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Disorders of the Neonatal Liver and Bile Ducts
Seminars in Neonatology (2003) 8, 335
Seminars in NEONATOLOGY www.elsevierhealth.com/journals/siny
Editorial
Disorders of the Neonatal Liver and Bile Ducts Liver and biliary tract disorders in the neonate are relatively rare and often complex. The consequences of delayed diagnosis and inappropriate management may be fatal. As with so much of clinical medicine, awareness of the spectrum of diseases and recognition of the key clinical features of the various disorders is essential to optimizing outcome. It is increasingly hard for today's clinicians to keep up to date when the pace of change is so great and the relevant literature so vast. This issue of Seminars in Neonatology distills the clinical and scientific experience of an international group of experts in an attempt to provide the working neonatologist (and other healthcare workers involved in the care of the newborn) with a ‘state-of-the-art’ review of each topic and a stimulating insight into recent advances. Sue Beath from Birmingham Children's Hospital, UK outlines current concepts of hepatic function and physiology in the newborn, whilst the fresh challenges posed by prenatal diagnosis and molecular genetics are discussed by Mark Davenport and Dino Hadzic from King's College Hospital, London, UK. The myriad of disorders which cause conjugated hyperbilirubinaemia are neatly and succinctly dissected by Eve Roberts from The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. The latter nicely leads on to a more detailed discussion of
biliary atresia from a combined Japanese and UK perspective. Stuart Kaufman from The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, USA brings us up to date with the widespread and potentially hazardous problem of parenteral-nutrition-associated liver disease. Finally, there are important contributions from Paddy McClean and Suzanne Davison in Leeds, UK on the newborn infant with liver failure, and from Dietrich von Schweinitz in Munich on neonatal liver tumours; both are rare but extremely taxing clinical conditions. With the constraints of space, each section is not intended to be encyclopaedic but rather, each expert has provided a readable account combining a useful blend of practical knowledge and analysis of current research. I would like to thank all the contributors. I am also indebted to Sea ´n Duggan, Managing Editor, and his assistant Ann Smiley for their assistance and support. Mark D. Stringer* St James's University Hospital Children's Liver and GI Unit Level 8 Geldhow Wing Leeds LS9 7TF UK *Tel.: +44-1132066689; fax: +44-1132066691 E-mail address: [email protected] (M.D. Stringer).
1084-2756/03/$ - see front matter © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S1084-2756(03)00091-5
Seminars in NEONATOLOGY www.elsevierhealth.com/journals/siny
Editorial
Disorders of the Neonatal Liver and Bile Ducts Liver and biliary tract disorders in the neonate are relatively rare and often complex. The consequences of delayed diagnosis and inappropriate management may be fatal. As with so much of clinical medicine, awareness of the spectrum of diseases and recognition of the key clinical features of the various disorders is essential to optimizing outcome. It is increasingly hard for today's clinicians to keep up to date when the pace of change is so great and the relevant literature so vast. This issue of Seminars in Neonatology distills the clinical and scientific experience of an international group of experts in an attempt to provide the working neonatologist (and other healthcare workers involved in the care of the newborn) with a ‘state-of-the-art’ review of each topic and a stimulating insight into recent advances. Sue Beath from Birmingham Children's Hospital, UK outlines current concepts of hepatic function and physiology in the newborn, whilst the fresh challenges posed by prenatal diagnosis and molecular genetics are discussed by Mark Davenport and Dino Hadzic from King's College Hospital, London, UK. The myriad of disorders which cause conjugated hyperbilirubinaemia are neatly and succinctly dissected by Eve Roberts from The Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto, Canada. The latter nicely leads on to a more detailed discussion of
biliary atresia from a combined Japanese and UK perspective. Stuart Kaufman from The Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, USA brings us up to date with the widespread and potentially hazardous problem of parenteral-nutrition-associated liver disease. Finally, there are important contributions from Paddy McClean and Suzanne Davison in Leeds, UK on the newborn infant with liver failure, and from Dietrich von Schweinitz in Munich on neonatal liver tumours; both are rare but extremely taxing clinical conditions. With the constraints of space, each section is not intended to be encyclopaedic but rather, each expert has provided a readable account combining a useful blend of practical knowledge and analysis of current research. I would like to thank all the contributors. I am also indebted to Sea ´n Duggan, Managing Editor, and his assistant Ann Smiley for their assistance and support. Mark D. Stringer* St James's University Hospital Children's Liver and GI Unit Level 8 Geldhow Wing Leeds LS9 7TF UK *Tel.: +44-1132066689; fax: +44-1132066691 E-mail address: [email protected] (M.D. Stringer).
1084-2756/03/$ - see front matter © 2003 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/S1084-2756(03)00091-5