A Safety and Efficacy Study to Determine if Giving Intravenous Fish Oil Helps Children With Liver Disease

Infants dependent on parenteral nutrition for greater than 1 year who develop parenteral nutrition associated cholestasis will universally face mortality unless they receive a timely liver and/or small bowel transplant. Although transplant survival has improved in recent years, survival is not guaranteed, and transplant care remains costly. Alternative nutritional and pharmacological strategies are imperative to improve the clinical outcomes of infants with intestinal failure and parenteral nutrition associated cholestasis. In both animal and human studies, intravenous fish oil, a lipid emulsion rich in omega-3 fatty acids and Vitamin E, and lacking phytosterols, has been shown to ameliorate parenteral nutrition associated cholestasis and improve morbidity and mortality. The purpose of this pilot study is to investigate if Omegaven, a commercially available intravenous fish oil, at 1 g/kg/d, will safely reverse liver disease in 80 subjects with parenteral nutrition associated cholestasis. Subjects can initially receive a maximum of 6 months (24 weeks) of intravenous fish oil. If the subject re-develops liver disease and still satisfies inclusion/exclusion criteria, the intervention can be restarted. Study subjects will be compared to a historical cohort of children with Short Bowel Syndrome and parenteral nutrition associated cholestasis who have been receiving standard intravenous soybean oil for \> 60 days. The fish oil cohort will be followed for a total of 5 years to determine if transplant-free mortality is reduced.