Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Hepatol. Nov 27, 2021; 13(11): 1552-1567
Published online Nov 27, 2021. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v13.i11.1552
Chelation therapy in liver diseases of childhood: Current status and response
Jayendra Seetharaman, Moinak Sen Sarma
Jayendra Seetharaman, Moinak Sen Sarma, Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Sanjay Gandhi Post-graduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Lucknow 226014, Uttar Pradesh, India
Author contributions: Seetharaman J primarily drafted the manuscript; Sen Sarma M provided the conception and revised the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Moinak Sen Sarma, MD, DM Associate Professor, Department of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Sanjay Gandhi Postgraduate Institute of Medical Sciences, Raebareli Road, Lucknow 226014, Uttar Pradesh, India. moinaksen@gmail.com
Received: February 27, 2021
Peer-review started: February 27, 2021
First decision: May 2, 2021
Revised: May 7, 2021
Accepted: August 20, 2021
Article in press: August 20, 2021
Published online: November 27, 2021
Processing time: 269 Days and 16 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Chelation forms the most important part of management of certain liver diseases in children. In Wilson's disease and secondary hemochromatosis related to transfusion, chelation is well established treatment modality with proven efficacy. In other diseases like copper associated childhood cirrhosis and neonatal hemochromatosis the role of chelation is doubtful. In hereditary hemochromatosis, chelation is recommended as alternative therapy. The selection of chelating agents for treatment depends on the efficacy, feasibility and risk of adverse effects known from literature. The review discusses the concepts of chelation and reviews the literature to assess the role of chelation in treatment of various pediatric liver diseases.