Preface

Seven years have passed since the publication of the third edition of Liver Disease in Children. This text continues to be the premier, comprehensive reference on pediatric liver disease. Pediatric hepatology continues to grow and evolve as a distinct discipline and so it remains a challenge to provide comprehensive coverage without markedly increasing the length of this text. To keep the size of this textbook within limits, the number of references for each chapter has been limited to classical and the most relevant current citations. The editors felt that this was a reasonable compromise, since ready access to the literature is possible through resources such as PubMed.

We have appreciated the contributions of so many of our colleagues over the past two decades, but to ensure a fresh perspective and to involve experts who have emerged in the field, 11 of the chapters are written by authors contributing to this textbook for the first time. These contributors have provided particular expertise in areas such as liver development, autoimmune liver disease, intestinal failure-associated liver disease, fatty liver disease, and inborn errors of metabolism. There is also expanded coverage of liver transplantation.