Abstract: 　Objective　To explore the clinical characteristics, treatment and prognosis of severe liver damage in children. Methods　Clinical data of 55 children with severe liver damage were retrospectively analyzed. Results　 In 55 children (31 boys and 24 girls) aged from 28 days to 12 years, forty-five children had acute liver injury mainly caused by infectious diseases (21 cases, 53.3%), blood tumor diseases (5 cases, 11.1%), hereditary metabolic diseases (4 cases, 8.9%), and unexplained diseases (10 cases, 22.2%), ten children had chronic liver injury with decompensated cirrhosis. Most of severe liver damage in children was caused by antipyretic drugs, traditional Chinese medicine and cold medicine, including 31 cases of acute liver injury and 4 cases of chronic liver injury. In children with acute liver injury, clinical symptoms included gastrointestinal symptoms (32 cases, 71.1%), jaundice (26 cases, 57.8%), hemorrhage (9 cases, 20.0%), multiple organ dysfunction (13 cases, 28.9%) and hepatic encephalopathy (6 cases, 13.3%). In children with chronic liver damage, clinical symptoms included abdominal distension and ascites (10 cases), jaundice (9 cases), gastrointestinal bleeding (7 cases), hepatic encephalopathy (3 cases) and multiple organ dysfunction (1 case). In 55 children, 39 children were died and the total mortality was 70.91%. In 14 cases of multiple organs dysfunction syndromes, 13 cases (92.9%) were died. All three cases of hepatic encephalopathy were died. Conclusions　Infectious diseases are the leading cause of sever liver damage in children. The most common inciting factors are antipyretic drugs, traditional Chinese medicine and cold medicine. Children with severe liver damage have a high mortality. Rational use of medicine and the concept of the prevention first should been strengthened.