ABP Transplant Hepatology study plan
ABP Transplant Hepatology · Give each week a clear focus.
8 weeks · About 6 hours per week
Evaluation and management of acute and chronic liver disease in children
Construct a differential framework for neonatal and infantile cholestasis that separates biliary, infectious, metabolic, endocrine, and genetic causes, and defend the order in which first-line tests should be obtained.
Differentiate pediatric acute liver failure from acute-on-chronic decompensation by stating the defining criteria for each and outlining the initial stabilization bundle.
Compare the components and known limitations of the pediatric prognostic scoring systems used to describe chronic liver disease severity, and explain why adult scores cannot be transplanted unchanged onto infants.
Design a longitudinal surveillance schedule for a child with compensated chronic liver disease covering growth and nutrition, variceal screening, developmental assessment, and vaccination.
Your checkpoint
Produce a two-page diagnostic decision map for infantile cholestasis plus 30 self-written vignette questions with answer rationales; score at least 80% on first attempt.
Pediatric cholestatic, metabolic, and genetic liver disorders
Classify inherited cholestatic syndromes by the site of the defect (bile acid synthesis, canalicular transport, tight-junction integrity, ductal morphogenesis) and match each class to its confirmatory test.
Distinguish the major metabolic liver diseases of childhood by their screening biochemistry, then sequence the definitive confirmatory studies for each.
Interpret genetic test results in a cholestatic infant, explaining the difference between a pathogenic variant, a variant of uncertain significance, and a modifier polymorphism.
Formulate first-line nutritional, pharmacologic, and chelation strategies for the treatable metabolic disorders and identify which ones are time-critical because delay causes irreversible injury.
Your checkpoint
Build a 25-row reference table (disorder to screening test to confirmatory test to first-line therapy) and write 20 case vignettes with keys; self-score and log every miss.
Complications of cirrhosis and portal hypertension & Evaluation and management of acute and chronic liver disease in children
Risk-stratify children with portal hypertension by clinical presentation and explain how the presence of synthetic dysfunction changes the management sequence.
Sequence the acute management of a suspected variceal hemorrhage from resuscitation through definitive therapy, and justify each step.
Differentiate the mechanisms of ascites, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, hepatic encephalopathy, and hepatorenal physiology, then select the appropriate first-line intervention for each.
Evaluate a child with hypoxemia and liver disease for hepatopulmonary syndrome versus portopulmonary hypertension by contrasting the expected findings on each diagnostic study.
Your checkpoint
Complete a timed 40-question block drawn only from domains 1 and 2, score at least 75%, and convert every incorrect item into a one-line rule in an error log.
Liver transplantation candidate evaluation and waitlist management
Assemble a systems-based pre-transplant evaluation checklist covering cardiac, pulmonary, renal, infectious, nutritional, and neurodevelopmental assessment, and state the finding that would contraindicate listing in each system.
Compare deceased-donor and living-donor pathways with respect to evaluation timeline, recipient size matching, and informed-consent content.
Apply a structured psychosocial and caregiver-adherence assessment to a hypothetical family and document how the results modify the listing recommendation.
Rank a set of competing candidates by urgency using available scoring and exception mechanisms, and justify each ranking in writing.
Your checkpoint
Write an 800-word mock candidate packet for one hypothetical patient: evaluation summary, risk list, listing recommendation, and the two findings that would reverse it.
Milestones
Week 2: Twenty-five-row disorder table is complete with no blank cells, and the 20 vignette questions score at least 80% without notes.
Week 4: Cumulative 80-question block spanning domains 1 through 4 is completed under timed conditions at 70% or better, with an error log entry for every miss.
Week 6: Immunosuppression drug-interaction map and rejection-histology comparison table are finished, and a 40-question post-transplant block scores at least 75%.
Week 8: Two full-length timed mock exams are completed with scores trending upward, and every remaining error-log item is resolved, re-tested, or flagged for focused review.