Liver Transplant

Liver transplants provide patients a chance for a longer, more active life in the final stages of liver disease or end-stage liver disease. The Liver Transplant Program at UCSF Medical Center has performed more than 2,100 liver transplants for adults and children since it began in 1988.

The program, designated as a "Center of Excellence" by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, does more liver transplants than any other hospital in Northern California and is recognized as one of the nation's leading centers for pediatric and adult liver transplants.

Adults who received transplanted livers from cadavers have a one-year survival rate of 92 percent at UCSF, compared to an 88 percent average nationwide, according to data compiled by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients.

A new procedure, called a living donor liver transplant, allows a living person to donate a segment of a liver, which grows or regenerates to full size in the recipient. The procedure was initially performed in children because it is particularly difficult to find small donor organs. But today, the procedure helps save the lives of adults as well. Our liver transplant surgeons are among the most experienced in the nation in performing living donor transplants for adults and children.

For first-hand information, read the personal stories of our liver transplant patients.

The transplant program's internationally recognized team of surgeons and liver specialists is supported by specialists in anesthesiology, infectious diseases, kidney disease, heart disease and pharmacology, as well as by nurse coordinators, social workers, mental health professionals, a nutritionist and financial counselors.

In research, UCSF is a world leader in developing techniques to reduce organ rejection and improve transplant success. Our patients have access to clinical trials involving new immunosuppressive drugs not available elsewhere. Researchers in our immunogenetics laboratory, one of the largest of its kind in the country, conduct tissue studies aimed at preventing and treating rejection of transplanted organs.

For more information or to make an appointment, please call:
Liver Transplant Program (415) 353-1888

Living Donor Liver Transplants — Learn the details of liver transplantation surgery including the benefits and risks associated with using living donor liver transplants. Hear this interview with Dr. John Roberts, an expert in liver transplant surgery for adults and children.

Reviewed by health care specialists at UCSF Medical Center.
Last updated September 26, 2008