ERN RARE-LIVER Clinical Exchange Programme: Reports from Groningen

“Through the ERN RARE-LIVER Clinical exchange programme, I had the opportunity to conduct a one-week clinical stay focusing on paediatric liver transplantation and paediatric hepatology at the University Medical Centre Groningen (UMCG). I highly recommend others interested in paediatric hepatology and rare-liver diseases to consider this great opportunity to expand knowledge and support collaboration across European Centres. 

As a Danish paediatrician specializing in paediatric hepatology and transplantation, UMCG and their specialist doctors offered a perfect setting for expanding my knowledge on paediatric liver transplantation and paediatric hepatology. The team at UMCG has long-standing experience with living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) and established an early programme focusing on LDLT. At Copenhagen University Hospital LDLT are still in early phase with few patients transplanted. In Copenhagen we already collaborate with doctors at UMCG in patients with complicated vascular disease including need for Meso-Rex bypass. Hence, the clinical stay at UMCG aimed at focusing and following their LDLT programme, gaining knowledge from an expert center and supporting future collaboration on complicated patients. 

From UMCG my stay was well-planned so that I could attend a paediatric living donor liver transplantation on day one, and subsequently follow post-transplant care and challenges. The opportunity to follow both the surgeons and the paediatricians provided valuable insights into the transplantation process and greatly improved learning. Apart from liver transplantation, I also attended daily rounds on paediatric patients with a variety of liver diseases along with multidisciplinary meetings on complicated patients and transplant candidate/-recipient meetings. The close collaboration and knowledge sharing between paediatric hepatologists, paediatric transplant surgeons and intensivists was inspiring for my present and future work as a paediatric hepatologist.  

Aside the clinical work, I also got to know the entire paediatric hepatology team and staff from the surgical team. All were very friendly and helpful and I was invited to join social activities for the team, which I highly value and appreciate. 

This clinical exchange confirmed how dedicated and professional the team at UMCG are, and it brought me valuable knowledge on paediatric liver transplant pre-, peri- and postoperative care, along with management and care of patients with rare liver diseases in general.

I would like to express my deep gratitude to doctors Ruben de Kleine, Henkjan Verkade, Hubert van der Doef, René Scheenstra and all the rest of the team at UMCG for inviting me and sharing their expert knowledge on paediatric liver disease. I am grateful for the opportunity offered by ERN Rare-liver making the clinical exchange possible and supporting doctors across Europe.”

Jon Nielsen, MD, PhD, Copenhagen University Hospital Rigshospitalet, Denmark

To learn more about the ERN Clinical exchange programme, please visit the dedicated section on our website or contact the ERN RARE-LIVER office directly.