Intestinal Transplant in Children

During your child’s evaluation, you will meet with multiple specialists including a pediatric gastroenterologist with specialized transplant training, transplant surgeon, and infectious disease specialist. You will also meet with our transplant coordinator, financial counselor, dietitian, and social worker.

Your child will undergo a physical exam and tests including blood tests, imaging – for example, ultrasound, echocardiogram, and CT scan, and special procedures such as an endoscopy or liver biopsy.

You and your child will participate in transplant training to learn more about the process and expectations, the medications your child will need, and how to address your child’s physical and emotional needs before and after transplant. Your transplant coordinator will provide more intensive education after transplant.

If the evaluation shows that intestinal transplantation is appropriate for your child, your child will be listed in the national database maintained by United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS).

Following intestinal transplant, the intestinal transplant team will closely monitor your child’s response to the surgery. We will prescribe and manage medications to prevent rejection. In addition, we perform routine small bowel biopsies to monitor the transplant. The length of time children spend in the hospital post-transplant can vary from several weeks to several months. You and your child will need to stay close to Duke an additional one to three months, or possibly longer, for follow-up care before returning home.