Pediatric Intestinal Transplant

The Pediatric Intestinal Transplant Program at Stanford Medicine Children’s Health provides expert, comprehensive care for children needing intestinal transplants. We are a trusted referral center for children with highly complex needs, due to our high volumes, national reputation for performing multiorgan abdominal transplants, research, innovations, and exceptional outcomes.

When your child needs intestinal transplant, our large team of multidisciplinary experts uses advanced surgical techniques, skilled infection prevention, personalized treatment, and timely placement on the transplant waiting list to significantly improve your child’s lifelong outcomes.

Why choose Stanford Children’s for intestinal transplant

Parents name the following reasons for choosing us as their care provider:

National leader in intestinal transplants

Our surgeons and doctors are known as national experts in intestinal transplant.

  • Intestinal transplant is offered at only a handful of places in the country, especially multiorgan transplant. The majority of our intestinal transplants are multiorgan.
  • We were the first pediatric intestinal program in Northern California, and we offer 35+ years of experience.
  • We are one of two intestinal transplant programs for children in the Western U.S.  

Expert, innovative care for the most challenging patients

  • We excel at handling the toughest challenges by offering transplants to children of all ages with serious abdominal conditions, giving hope to families who may have heard they have few or no options.  
  • We transplant very sick and very tiny babies, as small as 13 pounds (6 kilos).
  • We use leading-edge diagnostic technology and provide state-of-the-art advanced endoscopy (therapeutic procedures completed with a scope and camera) to evaluate gastrointestinal anatomy, pinpoint disease, and check for rejection. Only a few pediatric centers in the country offer advanced endoscopy, which helps us provide exceptional care for high-risk and fragile patients.
  • We provide motility studies pre-transplant to understand how your child’s native stomach and intestines work and use this information to guide surgery and care for your child’s best functional outcome. We are the only pediatric intestinal transplant program in the nation to conduct motility studies on most of our patients.
  • We offer specially trained transplant anesthesia, transplant intensive care, and added expertise from the abdominal transplant team at Stanford Medicine.

Multidisciplinary approach for advanced care

  • We bring pediatric specialists and subspecialists together to customize your child’s care plan, with your family at the center.
  • We provide timely 24/7 support from our large team of advanced practice providers, nurses, and transplant coordinators. 
  • Our team partners with the Intestinal Rehabilitation and Nutrition Support program to provide exceptional, tailored care to support your child’s GI system and nutritional needs while awaiting transplant.
  • We use novel techniques designed by our small bowel specialists to enhance your child’s intestinal function.

Research that leads to the latest care options

  • Our team engages in innovative research and clinical trials to discover new and better transplant therapies. For example, we are the only center in the country using stem cells to combat rejection, and we also pioneered the use of steroids in veins to treat rejection.
  • We lead key multicenter studies on intestinal transplant and are involved in national intestinal transplant consortiums.
  • We welcome your child to participate in a clinical trial. Recent trials involve immunosuppression, rejection treatment, and novel biologic medicines.

    • Learn more about our research>

Exceptional outcomes for intestinal transplant

We have maintained a 100% three-year success rate since 2014, according to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients.

Focus on high quality of life

  • Considering your child’s quality of life, along with physical health, is built into our intestinal transplant evaluations. 
  • Our transplant psychology team meets with your child to help them cope with their health and explore how transplant could make it better.

Outreach for convenient, continual care

  • Many of our patients live outside our region. To make it easier on families, our transplant team travels to multiple cities throughout five Western states via our Transplant Outreach Program to provide pre- and posttransplant care, a service unique to Stanford Medicine Children’s Health.
  • We partner with your child’s local provider to collaborate, develop, and implement a detailed ongoing care plan.   

Intestinal Transplant Patient Stories