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TEXAS
CHILDREN'S LIVER CENTER
Within Texas Children's Liver Center,
the Biliary Atresia
Clinic provides comprehensive medical, surgical and
transplant care
for infants and children with biliary atresia.
Biliary atresia is the closure or
disappearance of the biliary system, a network of tubular structures
and tiny ducts that drain bile from the liver to the small intestine
where it aids in the digestive process. Biliary atresia affects only
newborns and is not hereditary, contagious or preventable.
Biliary atresia is a progressive
inflammatory condition that begins very soon after birth. In the
most common form, extrahepatic biliary atresia, the ducts outside
the liver are affected first. White blood cells invade the ducts,
which become damaged and may wither or disappear. Bile is trapped
inside the liver and rapidly causes damage and scarring to the liver
cells. Further scarring of the liver may result in cirrhosis.
Approximately one case of biliary
atresia occurs in every 15,000 live births. In the United States,
approximately 300 new cases are diagnosed each year. Texas
Children's Liver Center physicians and surgeons have diagnosed and
treated the most complex and rare cases involving biliary atresia in
the nation.
Cutting-edge clinical research
Texas Children's Liver Center is among a handful of centers in
the nation that participates in National Institutes of
Health-funded protocols, including:
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BARC (Biliary Atresia Research Consortium)
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CLIC (Cholestatic Liver Disease Consortium)
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SPLIT
(Studies of Pediatric Liver Transplantation)
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PALF
(Pediatric Acute Liver Failure Study)
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Therapy of PTLD
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Fatty
liver disease
For more information about
participating in one of these clinical trials, contact us.
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