No other center in the country has experienced as many successful transplants as Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh for MSUD. MSUD is a metabolic disorder that causes amino acids from proteins to accumulate in the body, which can have a toxic effect and lead to brain swelling, neurological damage and death. MSUD derives its name from the sweet smell of the urine.
For the first time in these young patients' lives, they are able to go on vacation without fear of metabolic crisis and to eat foods, like ice cream and chicken nuggets, that normal children enjoy. All of the seven patients with MSUD who have been transplanted at Children's are showing excellent results.
Jakob Jasin, now 5, son of Chris and Susan Jasin of Fairfax, Va., became the first patient with MSUD to be transplanted at Children's on May 30, 2004. Jakob, who was 4 when transplanted and named his new liver "Tommy," is now free from the symptoms of the disease. Jakob was discharged from Children's 11 days after his transplant -- approximately six months after Children's established a comprehensive protocol that provides guidelines and safety nets for MSUD transplantation.
"Without this transplant, Jakob would have followed a strict diet for the rest of his life, and even then, he was still at risk for going into metabolic crisis and suffering irreparable brain damage," said George V. Mazariegos, MD, director of Pediatric Transplantation at Children's and associate professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in the departments of Surgery, Anesthesiology and Critical Care
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Contact: Melanie Finnigan
Melanie.Finnigan@chp.edu
412-692-5502
Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh
17-Jun-2005