Long-term outcomes of pediatric living donor liver transplantation at a single institution.

There have only been a few studies on the long-term outcomes and prognostic factors after pediatric LDLT. We conducted a retrospective, single-center assessment of the outcomes as well as the demographic and clinical factors that influenced the poor outcomes in 113 children aged <16 (median age 21 months; 6 months-15.5 yr) who underwent 115 LDLTs, predominantly for biliary atresia (60.9%) and FHF (14.8%), between 1994 and 2006 at Asan Medical Center. Left lateral segment or left lobe grafts were implanted into most of these children (86.9%) according to routine procedures. The overall rates of graft survival at one, five, and 10 yr were 89.6%, 83.0%, and 81.5%, respectively, and the overall rates of patient survival were 92.9%, 86.3%, and 84.8%, respectively. Virus-related disease (41.2%) and chronic rejection (29.4%) were the major causes of mortality. On multivariate analysis, UNOS status 1a and 1b and chronic rejection were significant risk factors for both graft and patient loss, whereas the PELD score >25 was a significant risk factor for graft loss. Patient and graft survival may be related not only to post-operative complications, but also to the patient's preoperative clinical condition.

Characteristics and trends in the incidence of inflammatory bowel disease in Korean children: a single-center experience.

BACKGROUND: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is rare in Asian children and few reports on pediatric IBD have appeared. AIMS: We, therefore, investigated the incidence trends and clinical characteristics of pediatric IBD in Korea. METHODS: We enrolled 48 children with Crohn's disease (CD) and 14 children with ulcerative colitis (UC) from 1996 to 2007. Trends in annual enrollment and clinical characteristics were retrospectively evaluated by medical record review. RESULTS: During the 12 years of observation, the number of new enrollments gradually increased. CD showed male predominance (33 boys, 15 girls), but more females presented with UC (4 boys, 10 girls). A relevant family history was observed in 3 (4.9%) of the 61 unrelated families. The most common presenting symptom was abdominal pain (67%) in CD and hematochezia (93%) in UC. Growth delay was observed in 10% of CD patients, but not in any of the UC patients. In CD, colonic involvement occurred in 87% of patients, ileal involvement in 87%, and both the small bowel and colon were affected in 75%. With UC, pancolitis occurred in 43% of patients, left-sided colitis in 36%, and proctitis in 21%, including all three patients with appendiceal orifice inflammation. The most frequent disease behavior was inflammatory in 85% of patients, but perianal fistula was noted in 50% of CD patients. CONCLUSION: This study showed that the incidence of pediatric IBD has been rapidly increasing in Korea in recent years. Relevant family history is less prevalent and phenotypic expression differs from what is seen in Western countries.

Infections after living donor liver transplantation in children.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the infectious complications after living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) in children. We enrolled 95 children (38 boys and 57 girls) who underwent LDLT from 1994 to 2004. The median age was 22 months (range, 6 months to 15 yr). We retrospectively investigated the proven episodes of bacterial, viral, and fungal infection. There occurred 150 infections in 67 (70%) of 95 patients (1.49 infections/patient); 74 in 43 patients were bacterial, 2 in 2 were fungal, and 74 in 42 were viral. The most common sites of bacterial infection were the bloodstream (33%) and abdomen (25%). Most of the bacterial infections occurred within the first month after LDLT. Bacterial and fungal infections did not result in any deaths. The most common causes of viral infection were Epstein-Barr virus in 37 patients and cytomegalovirus in 18. Seven of the 14 deaths after LDLT were associated with viral infection. Our study suggests that infection is one of the important causes of morbidity and mortality after LDLT. Especially careful monitoring and management of viral infections is crucial for improving the outcome of LDLT in children.

Endoscopic cyanoacrylate injection for the treatment of gastric varices in children.

AIM: To evaluate the efficacy and safety of N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate in treating acute bleeding of gastric varices in children. METHODS: The retrospective study included 21 children with 47 episodes of active gastric variceal bleeding who were treated by endoscopic injection of N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate at Asan Medical Center Children's Hospital between August 2004 and December 2011. To reduce the risk of embolism, each injection consisted of 0.1-0.5 mL of 0.5 mL N-butyl-2-cyanoacrylate diluted with 0.5 or 0.8 mL Lipiodol. The primary outcome was incidence of hemostasis after variceal obliteration and the secondary outcome was complication of the procedure. RESULTS: The 21 patients experienced 47 episodes of active gastric variceal bleeding, including rebleeding, for which they received a total of 52 cyanoacrylate injections. Following 42 bleeding episodes, hemostasis was achieved after one injection and following five bleeding episodes it was achieved after two injections. The mean volume of each single aliquot of cyanoacrylate injected was 0.3 ± 0.1 mL (range: 0.1-0.5 mL). Injection achieved hemostasis in 45 of 47 (95.7%) episodes of acute gastric variceal bleeding. Eleven patients (52.4%) developed rebleeding events, with the mean duration of hemostasis being 11.1 ± 11.6 mo (range: 1.0-39.2 mo). No treatment-related complications such as distal embolism were noted with the exception of abdominal pain in one patient (4.8%). Among four mortalities, one patient died of variceal rebleeding. CONCLUSION: Endoscopic variceal obliteration using a small volume of aliquots with repeated cyanoacrylate injection was an effective and safe option for the treatment of gastric varices in children.