Inside Pediatrics Summer 2019

CCAIR helps patients, families navigate intestinal rehabilitation management

Multidisciplinary team says family engagement, participation is vital to outcomes of complex gastrointestinal disorders

T here are no telethons for short bowel syndrome, Center for Advanced Intestinal Rehabilitation (CCAIR) bring a passion to their work that results in a quality of care for patients and their families that is unrivaled in the region. Intestinal failure, a condition which renders a child unable to maintain adequate hydration and absorb calories for sufficient growth, results in the need for parenteral nutrition delivery through a centrally placed venous catheter. and it is not the best understood childhood medical condition. But the caregivers at Children’s of Alabama’s

“These are children who have lost function of their bowel or lost some of the bowel itself. Most of the children we take care of have short bowel syndrome. That means they developed a condition where they lost a lot of their intestine. That condition exists across neonatal intensive care units across the country, and programs like ours can provide support for that child,” said David Galloway, M.D., CCAIR medical director. “It requires a multidisciplinary approach,” Galloway continued. “You need surgeons and gastroenterologists, pharmacists,

Children’s of Alabama Center for Advanced Intestinal Rehabilitation (CCAIR) Medical Director David Galloway, M.D., second from right, and CCAIR Surgical Director Colin Martin, M.D., check in with a young patient. The clinic manages approximately 150 children with intestinal failure, ranging in age from infancy to 16 years old.

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