Short bowel syndrome is a life threatening disease with a high mortality and morbidity. Since home parenteral nutrition (PN) has been established, there is an increasing number of patients surviving the acute loss of bowel function. But in the long-time these patients suffer from different complications of PN, with loss of central venous access, recurrent sepsis and finally the syndrome of progressive cholestatic ihrer disease. Both loss of central venous access and especially the progressive cholestatic liver disease are the limiting factor for the long-term survival of patients suffering from intestinal failure. Interestingly, the pathophysiologic mechanisms of parenteral nutrition induced intrahepatic cholestasis have not been solved yet and seem to be of multifactorial genesis. Cholestasis has shown to be associated with prematurity, recurrent sepsis, enteral and parenteral nutrition, especially with lipid emulsions. Enteral feeding and a well-controlled regime of parenteral nutrition lower the incidence of end-stage liver disease and, therefore, has to be optimized in the therapy of these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]