Providing a Comprehensive, Supportive Approach to Care

Children with intestinal failure are at risk for complications and long-term health challenges. The intestinal rehabilitation center takes a proactive approach to provide early diagnosis and interventions to address problems and support families. Our goal is to help children experience healthy growth and development while minimizing the need for intravenous nutritional support.

During your first visit to the Intestinal Rehabilitation Center, you and your child will meet with a team that includes physicians, a registered dietitian and a nurse practitioner. The team will provide a comprehensive assessment, evaluating your child’s needs from their areas of expertise. Then, they will discuss how best to proceed with your child’s care and share their recommendations with you. As your child’s needs change, the team will continue to adjust the treatment plan as necessary.

Our team will provide support for your family as your child grows and develops. This includes helping your family manage transitions, which can be especially stressful when a child has intestinal failure. Examples of transitions include being discharged from the hospital to home, starting kindergarten with special nutritional needs, or graduating from high school and figuring out the next stage of life. Our team will be with you through all these transitions and do all we can to ease your way with education, excellent medical care, mental health counseling and access to community resources.

The Full Continuum of Treatments and Services

• Advanced Nutritional Support - Our physicians and feeding specialists offer individualized nutritional therapies, including specialized diets and parenteral (intravenous) nutrition.
• Medical Management - Our physicians tailor each child’s medication plan to their unique needs. In addition to prescribing drugs that improve gut function, we offer access to newly approved drugs such as teduglutide that can enhance food absorption and reduce the need for parenteral nutrition.
• Innovative Care Strategies to Keep Your Child Safe - Safety is a top priority at Cincinnati Children’s. This is why we use the latest locking solutions to prevent central line-associated bloodstream infections for children receiving parenteral nutrition at home and why we use lipid management protocols such as intravenous fish oil-based lipids, that can help prevent intestinal failure-associated liver disease.
• Surgical Care - Our surgeons perform innovative reconstructive bowel surgeries to optimize the absorptive capacity of the gut. Transplantation is also available when necessary through our Intestinal Transplant Program.
• Support in the Home Setting - Our nursing team offers teaching and support to help you care for your child at home. Services include remote patient monitoring, which allows the care team to follow your child’s progress with fewer clinic visits.
• Participation in Clinical Research Trials - Our physicians participate in basic (lab-based) and clinical research studies to advance the science of caring for children with conditions that lead to intestinal failure. Through these studies, patients may have access to novel therapies before those therapies are widely available.