Living Donor Liver Transplant: The Facts

In the United States, there are over 17,000 patients on the liver waiting list, but only enough donated livers to perform about 5,000 transplants per year. As a result, more than 1,700 patients die each year while on liver waiting lists. Technological advances – along with the liver's unique ability to regenerate itself – have allowed UCSF Medical Center transplant surgeons to perform living donor liver transplants.

Here are some facts on living donor liver transplantation:

• It began over a decade ago to enable adults to donate part of their liver to children
• In the mid-1990s, countries with limited cadavers began adult-to-adult living donor transplants
• Surgeons at UCSF Medical Center performed their first adult-to-child procedure in 1993 and the first adult-to-adult procedure in January, 2000. Since 2000, UCSF Medical Center has performed more than 90 adult-to-adult transplants
• A living donor doesn't have to be a blood relative, but must have a compatible blood type
• During surgery about 40 percent to 60 percent of the donor's liver is removed
• The average hospital stay for both recipient and donor is seven days; the recovery time for donors is about two months and for recipients is about six to 12 months
• The liver begins to regenerate itself almost immediately
• Within eight weeks, both the donor's and the recipient's livers will be almost completely regenerated

To learn more about liver transplants at UCSF Medical Center, call (415) 353-1888.