At Children's Wisconsin, our Liver Disease and Transplant Program provides comprehensive and compassionate care for kids. We have a strong track record in successfully managing both common and rare liver disorders.

To provide the most effective and comprehensive care for kids, our multi-disciplinary team of pediatric liver experts include hepatologists, nurse practitioners, dietitians, psychologists, social workers, pharmacists, radiologists, social workers and transplant surgeons. This team is led by Bernadette Vitola, MD.

We understand that a liver disease diagnosis can be stressful and challenging for families, and we work quickly to develop an accurate diagnosis and support your child and family with information, understanding and compassion. We use a team approach to provide education, support and ongoing disease management. Our team uses national “best practices” to provide up-to-date options for treating liver disease. Our team also participates in research studies, allowing the patient and family to have access to investigations specific to the child’s disease.

The pediatric liver transplant program at Children's Wisconsin is recognized as one of the top programs in the United States. Our outcomes include excellent survival rates and a higher rate of receiving a transplant than the national average. For children with severe pediatric chronic liver disease, or acute liver failure, a liver transplant may be the best and only solution. Our uniquely qualified staff work with your child, your family, and the referring physician to ensure optimal treatment before, during, and after liver transplant.

Conditions we treat

• Alagille syndrome
• Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency
• Autoimmune hepatitis
• Biliary atresia
• Cirrhosis
• Congenital hepatic fibrosis
• Elevated liver enzymes
• Hemochromatosis
• Hepatitis
• Hepatomegaly
• Jaundice/cholestatic liver diseases
• Liver tumors
• Metabolic liver diseases
  • Glycogen storage disease
  • Ornithine Transcarbamylase deficiencies
• Neonatal hemochromatosis
• Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)/nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)
• Progressive Familial Intrahepatic Cholestasis (PFIC)
• Total parenteral nutrition-induced cholestasis
• Wilson's disease

Our entire team has vast experience treating liver disorders. This includes nurses who specialize in liver disease, dietitians who frequently work with children who have liver disorders, social workers who can help navigate insurance and school issues, pharmacists who are knowledgeable of how liver disease affects the metabolism of medications and who can help manage any potential drug interactions and radiologists who have special training.

Diagnosing and treating Liver Disease

We'll work together to create a customized treatment plan depending on your child's particular liver disorder. If your child's medical history and symptoms are consistent with liver disease, your child's doctor might use the following tests to confirm the diagnosis:

• Blood tests
• Biopsy
• Abdominal ultrasound
• FibroScan: FibroScan is a non-invasive test that helps assess the health of your child's liver. Specifically, it uses ultrasound technology to determine the degree of fibrosis or scarring that may be present in the liver from various liver diseases or conditions. FibroScan also measures the amount of fat within the liver. This information is then used by your child's gastroenterologist to individualize and optimize the treatment plan. For some patients, FibroScan can replace the need for liver biopsy.

We'll work together to create a customized treatment plan for your child. Depending on your child's particular liver disorder, it could include:

• Dietary management
• Nutritional supplementation
• Medications
• Surgical treatments to repair bile ducts
• Liver transplant