Steatohepatitis, which causes inflammation of the liver, is seen in approximately 20 percent of overweight patients. At Texas Children's 30 patients from ages 6 to 17 are treated for the condition by Dr. Ruben Quiros, medical director of Texas Children's liver transplant program.
"If a patient can lose more than 10 percent of his or her body weight, this will have a significant effect on the disease," Quiros said. "So the first thing I always do is encourage patients to lose weight and exercise -- preferably in an organized program like Weigh of Life."
Weigh of Life is the oldest organized pediatric weight control programs in the United States. It helps children establish healthy eating and exercise habits and during 15 one-on-one sessions: 10 with a therapist to learn behavior modification, three with a dietician and two exercising.
Quiros also is conducting research to see if vitamin E and Actigal, a bile acid, help slow progression of liver inflammation.
Obese children also often have the early stages of cirrhosis, liver damage caused by inflammation, which seems to develop into a more serious condition as they get older.
"There is more and more worrisome information that this is a progressive process," Quiros said. "It may take 15 to 20 years to develop cirrhosis. Many adults may have had the early stages of it when they were children, but it just wasn't recognized."
New technology for providing home peritoneal dialysis is improving care for 20-month-old Enzo until he receives a kidney transplant.
The new device allows Enzo to live and thrive in Corpus Christi, 240 miles from Texas Children's Hospital in Houston where renal specialists can monitor his condition.
"With this new technology, Texas Children's medical and nursing staff are able to support families more effectively by allowing us to analyze their dialysis prescriptions remotely," said Dr. Stuart Goldstein, medical director of the Texas Children's renal dialysis unit.
Read about Texas Children's new service for home peritoneal dialysis.
Children act quickly. So do poisons.
Texas Children’s Hospital urges parents to become educated on preventing unintentional poisonings and deaths among children and infants.
“You absolutely cannot underestimate the curiosity of a child,” said Dr. Joan Shook, chief of emergency medicine at Texas Children’s Hospital.
Everyone has adverse reactions to poisons, but when children are exposed to poison, they are more likely to suffer more serious consequences because they are smaller, have faster metabolic rates and their bodies are less capable of handling toxic chemicals.
Learn more about poison prevention in the home.
The first international conference on Heart Failure in Children & Young Adults: From Molecular Mechanisms to Medical & Surgical Strategies takes place December 4-6 in Houston. Sponsored by Texas Children's Heart Center, the conference also includes a mini-symposium on mechanical cardiopulmonary support in pediatric patients.
For registration, see www.heartfailureinchildren.org, call the Heart Center at 832-826-5600, or e-mail international@texaschildrenshospital.org.
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