Research

Steroids and Liver Transplants

Steroid-free Immunosuppression with a Low Dose Tacrolimus+sirolimus regimen in primary pediatric liver transplantation

Protocol Description

This study seeks to eliminate the use of steroids, which are commonly used to prevent rejection in children receiving liver transplantation, and to minimize side effects such as growth retardation and obesity that result from the use of steroids. For the study, lower amounts of tacrolimus are combined with sirolimus, a recently approved antirejection drug. The combination of the two drugs maintains effective antirejection therapy while using lower, less toxic amounts of both drugs.