Pediatric Kidney, Liver and Metabolic Diseases

Professor Dr. med. Jochen H.H. Ehrich, Director of the Department of Pediatric Kidney, Liver and Metabolic Diseases

Professor Ehrich, D.C.M.T. (London), is a pediatrician and the physician responsible for clinical care, research, teaching and management at the Hannover Medical School Children's Hospital.

He is a former president and current member of various international societies, such as the European Society for Paediatric Nephrology (http://espn.uwcm.ac.uk) and the Union of National European Paediatric Societies and Associations (www.unepsa.org). 

Internationally, he is involved in the cooperation and coordination of primary and tertiary pediatric care not only in Europe but also in many other parts of the world. He organises congresses, teaching courses, and residencies for visiting doctors, and supports the development of special clinics as well as research projects in developing countries.

Professor Ehrich is also an expert in pediatric tropical diseases and travel medicine. His clinical focus is on organ failure and transplantation medicine in children.

Professor Ehrich is the director of three working groups:

• Paediatric nephrology
• Hepato-gastroenterology
• Metabolic diseases.

Organ-specific and general pediatric care is offered to patients in all three working groups, including diagnosis and therapy of disturbances in growth and development of chronically ill children, as well as their psychosocial welfare. The Department focuses on the care of children with organ failure.

As of 2007, 600 renal and 500 liver transplantations had been performed on children. Professor Ehrich and his team have developed several treatments which are accepted worldwide and have become standard therapies.

Clinical Profile

The Children's Hospital is a major centre for the treatment of kidney, liver and metabolic diseases.
It has become a leader in the care of children in Europe with renal and liver transplants, focusing on transplantation in young children and adolescents, transplantation in risk groups (blood group incompatibility, multiple-organ failure, disabled children) with special focus on living organ donation and preemptive transplantation without prior dialysis.

Organ replacement therapy with peritoneal and haemodialysis is available, as well as all apheresis and liver bridging techniques. All these therapies are performed according to the highest standards in cooperation with the Curatorium for Dialysis and Kidney Transplantation (KfH).

Diagnosis and therapy are available for  children with all inborn and acquired kidney and liver diseases. Diagnostic methods include biopsy with same-day results, gastro-intestinal endoscopy and high-end ultrasonography, electrophysiology, and all imaging techniques. Our own metabolic laboratory is able to analyse complex disorders of amino and organic acids and respiratory chain defects.

New diagnostic methods and surrogate markers for prognosis after organ transplantation have been developed here and immunosuppressive strategies were initiated.

In order to reduce co-morbidity and to ensure the complete rehabilitation and highest possible quality of life of our patients, we offer integral, neuropsychological-anthropological diagnostics for patients with organ dysfunction.

Professor Ehrich's Department specialises in the  care of children with rare, complicated and complex illnesses with multiple organ involvement, with a special focus on:

• Congenital and acquired kidney diseases, e.g. nephrotic syndrome, renal failure, and kidney transplantation
• Liver and biliary tract diseases, e.g. biliary atresia, hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, liver transplantation, chronic intestinal diseases
• Metabolic diseases, congenital metabolic defects, disorders of the brain (epilepsy) and growth failure

Professor Ehrich's team consists of 23 physicians and 50 nursing staff.

As a leading university hospital, the Department is fully equipped at the latest technical standard.
Facilities are available for accomodation of a parent with the child in a private room.

Scientific Profile

The following scientific breakthroughs in the diagnosis and treatment of severe illnesses have been achieved within the past two years:

1. In steroid-resistent nephrotic syndrome, a new combination treatment has been developed with an 84% success rate (Ehrich, et al. NDT 22:2183, 2007).

2. On the diagnosis of chronic organ rejection, a new procedure has been developed using a resistance index and Picrosirius red staining (Pape et al. World J Ped 2:276, 2006).

3. In organ donation, a ‘Young for Young’ concept has been designed (Pape et al. Ped Nephrol 22:477, 2007).

4. For the promotion of growth and development in chronically ill children, a new anthropometric and psychometric concept has been developed, leading to major improvements in growth (Zivicnjak et al. Ped Nephrol 22:420, 2007).

5. In 2007 for the first time in Germany a one-day-old male newborn with severe urea cycle defect received i. v. donor hepato-cytes in order to reduce metabolic dysfunction.

Homepage Department of Pediatric Kidney, Liver and Metabolic Diseases