Pediatric Gastroenterology & Hepatology
We provide expert, compassionate inpatient and outpatient care for children with a variety of gastrointestinal, liver, and metabolic disorders including inflammatory bowel disease, esophageal disorders, diarrheal disease, acute and chronic liver disease, and metabolic liver diseases, including lysosomal diseases.
Our care team harnesses the expertise of gastrointestinal nursing, nutrition, radiology, surgery and genetics experts, as well as Yale’s programs in inflammatory bowel disease and liver transplantation. Our multidisciplinary approach for our patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease also includes a clinical psychologist, a dietician, and an endocrinologist.The program also offers selective shunts for patients with noncirrhotic portal hypertension.
Our Services
Gastrointestinal conditions we often manage include:
- Abdominal Pain
- Celiac disease
- Constipation/Encopresis
- Eosinophilic esophagitis/allergic bowel disease
- Failure to thrive
- Feeding problems/swallowing problems
- Helicobacter pylori infection
- Hirschsprung’s disease
- Lactose intolerance
- Malabsorption
- Pancreatitis
- Peptic ulcer disease
- Vomiting
Our pediatric hepatologists treat a range of liver diseases. Some can be managed with medication, while others require surgery. For example,acute liver failure(ALF) occurs when many of the cells in the liver die or become very damaged in a short period of time. ALF has many causes, such as metabolic conditions or toxicity from incorrect dosages of acetaminophen.ALF can sometimes be treated with medication, if it is identified early, but about half of all children who develop ALF require a liver transplant.
Biliary atresiais a disease of the liver and bile ducts that occurs in infants. In children with biliary atresia, bile—a liquid that helps the body digest fat—cannot properly drain from the liver. This damages liver cells and can lead to liver failure. Surgical procedures can correct bile flow problems, but the liver disease progresses and requires specialized care to improve growth, development, nutrition, and long-term outcome.A multidisciplinary team consisting of pediatric liver specialists, surgeons, and a dietician provides comprehensive care for patients with biliary atresia.
Other hepatology conditions we treat include:
- Alagille syndrome
- Alpha-1-antitrypsin deficiency
- Autoimmune hepatitis
- Neonatal cholestasis
- Progressive Familial Intrahepatic Cholestasis (PFIC)
- Urea cycle defects
- Wilson's disease
- Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis
- Glycogen Storage Disease
- Viral hepatitis
- Hepatoblastoma
- Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
