Consultant’s study gets international attention
A Birmingham Children’s Hospital consultant has had her study published in an internationally-recognised research journal.
Consultant Hepatologist Dr Chaya Kelgeri’s study ‘Clinical Spectrum of Children with Acute Hepatitis of Unknown Case’ was published in the New England Journal of Medicine and has since gone on to be quoted in international medical news outlets Medscape, Contagion and even the New York Times.
The study tracked acute hepatitis in liver patients at the Children’s Hospital from January to April 2022 to try to find an unknown cause of the condition. These children were ten years of age or younger and had hepatitis that met the case definition of the UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) for confirmed acute hepatitis that was not hepatitis A through E and did not have a metabolic, inherited or genetic, congenital, or mechanical cause.
The team tracked these patients retrospectively by consulting medical records and data. All 44 children in the study survived, but with a small number needing a liver transplant. Many of these cases were found to have adenovirus infection though its relevance is yet to be established.
Dr Kelgeri said: “It's great for our article to have been accepted in one of the world's leading medical journals and contribute towards the global impact. The whole Liver Unit team came together as we were working on tight deadlines, Prof Mirza guiding and motivating us at all steps, and with constant mentoring from Dr Gupte, Mr Sharif and Dr Hartley.
“We will continue to collect data, as additional cases will help us establish a more accurate timeline. Also, a more thorough investigation may bring us closer to the incriminating agents.”
This study has fed into wider national research being conducted by the UKHSA which is tracking the rise in this type of acute hepatitis across the country and is one of a number of these studies going on across the world.