Intestinal Transplant

An intestinal transplant is a last-resort treatment option for patients with intestinal failure who develop life-threatening complications from total parenteral nutrition (TPN). In intestinal failure, the intestines can't digest food or absorb the fluids, electrolytes and nutrients essential for life. Patients must receive TPN, which provides liquid nutrition through a catheter or needle inserted into a vein in the arm, groin, neck or chest. Long-term TPN can result in complications including bone disorders, catheter-related infections and liver failure. Over time, TPN also can damage veins used to administer the nutrition via the catheter.

An intestinal transplant may be appropriate if you:

• Are dependent on intravenous TPN
• Have developed infections or complications that make it increasingly difficult to administer TPN
• Have liver failure
• Don't have a bowel, or have a nonfunctional bowel

After receiving an intestinal transplant, patients can be transitioned from TPN to an oral diet, thus improving their health and quality of life. However, it's important to remember that an intestinal transplant is not a surgical cure, but rather a last-resort therapy that requires the meticulous administration of medication and close monitoring to be successful.

As one of the largest organ transplant programs in the country, UCSF Medical Center is also one of the few in the country that performs intestinal transplants. Our team includes a transplant surgeon, liver specialists, gastroenterologists, nurses, social workers, pharmacists and dietitians specially trained in transplantation.

Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Medical Center.
Last updated March 24, 2009