World Leaders in Saving Babies with Intestinal Failure!

Baby Hayden is thriving today thanks to
an innovative surgery performed right
here at the Alberta Children's Hospital.

Thanks to you, experts at the Alberta Children's Hospital are now world leaders in finding new ways to save babies with intestinal failure and give them a chance at healthy futures! Our community has made possible exciting new breakthroughs at the hospital, capturing attention and requests for collaboration from experts across Canada and the United States.  In fact, our specialists helped found the Pediatric Intestinal Failure Consortium (PIF-Con) - uniting 18 research hospitals across North America, including Harvard and Stanford Universities, in the fight to help children faced with this terrible condition. 

"By collaborating in our research efforts, sharing specialized surgical techniques and working together to develop best practices and protocols in care and treatment, we can ensure better outcomes for babies across the continent and around the world," says Dr. David Sigalet, pediatric surgeon and at the Alberta Children's Hospital and holder of the Foundation’s Professorship in Pediatric Surgery.

Innovative Research
Dr. Sigalet's own research efforts are so promising that he's been asked to lead a North American clinical trial to study the benefits of a hormone called GLP-2. This hormone has the potential to be the most useful new therapy for treating short bowel syndrome. It is believed to boost a baby's ability to absorb essential nutrients and could be key to saving children's lives across the globe.

Surgical Success
With surgery a crucial part of treatment for intestinal failure, our specialists are also committed to developing new and better ways to operate on tiny bowels. In fact, our hospital is now recognized as the western Canadian referral centre for a special technique called the STEP procedure. Surgeons make strategic incisions in the intestine which actually lengthen the intestine, and when they heal, allow for better absorption of nutrients for the child. Of the one hundred STEP surgeries performed in the world to date, the Alberta Children's Hospital has successfully performed seven - more than any other hospital in Canada.

First-Class Care
Recognizing that caring for these seriously ill babies is complex, our hospital has created a multi-disciplinary program unlike any other in western Canada. Researchers, surgeons, doctors, nurses, dieticians and social workers work closely as a team to help the babies and their families survive and then thrive.  Our team has had such great success with a new form of intravenous feeding involving special fish oils that they have now been asked to develop guidelines on how it can be used in all children's hospitals across North America.

"I can honestly say that our team's success is a direct result of donations from the community.  These small, vulnerable patients are typically here from 3 to 6 months, but if we do our job, they will go on to a near normal life.  Because of the rarity of the problem, and the lack of a single common cause, it is an "orphan disease"; one that does not have a large research sponsor in the community.  Our work, which has established that GLP-2 is central in the control of intestinal function in these small infants was only possible because of the generous support of donors to the Alberta Children's Hospital Foundation," says Dr. Sigalet.

Baby Hayden Kretschmer is one of the babies who is living proof of the incredible expertise provided by our hospital's intestinal rehabilitation team. Born six weeks early, Hayden weighed just five pounds and was in danger of not being able to grow any bigger since she was missing 90% of her bowel.

"Fifteen years ago, Hayden wouldn't have made it," says her mom.

Thankfully, hospital experts were able to perform two STEP surgeries for Hayden, the first at just one month old. For nine months, they also cared for Hayden in hospital, providing her with innovative intravenous feeding that have helped her grow to a healthy 17 pounds!

"We can't begin to say how much we appreciate and love the team looking after our daughter at the Alberta Children's Hospital," says Hayden’s mom. "The amazing STEP procedures have given her a fighting chance. We truly believe that it is their knowledge as well as their love for Hayden that has pulled her through this."