Transplant Surgery News Archive Featured in the Media JeffNEWS

Thomas Jefferson University Hospital has been designated a Live Donor Liver Transplant Center by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the organization that administers the nation’s policies on organ transplantation and procurement.  The designation makes Jefferson’s one of only three adult-to-adult living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) programs in the Delaware Valley.

Cataldo Doria, M.D., Ph.D., FACS, director of the Division of Transplantation at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital (TJUH), and associate professor of Surgery, Jefferson Medical College (JMC) of Thomas Jefferson University, will lead Jefferson’s LDLT team as primary surgeon.  The UNOS-approved team will also comprise Stephen P. Dunn, M.D., division chief of General Surgery and Solid Organ Transplant Surgery at A.I. duPont Hospital for Children, and professor of Surgery and Pediatrics at JMC; Carlo Ramirez, M.D., transplant specialist at TJUH, and assistant professor of Surgery at JMC; and Adam Frank, M.D., transplant specialist at TJUH, and assistant professor of Surgery at JMC.  

“We are extremely pleased to be able to offer living donor transplantation as another leading-edge, potentially life-saving treatment to our liver patients here at Jefferson,” said Dr. Doria.  “LDLT does not replace traditional deceased donor transplantation, but it will allow us to transplant more patients from the UNOS waiting list.”

At this very moment, there are approximately 17,000 people on the UNOS liver transplant waiting list, and the numbers are steadily increasing due primarily to cirrhosis, or scarring of the liver, which is most commonly cause by Hepatitis C.  Advancements in surgical techniques, immunosuppressant drugs, and protocols have also made more patients candidates for liver transplantation than ever before.  However, only about one-third of these patients will receive deceased donor organs.

“Adult-to-adult living donor transplantation provides another, extraordinary option to these patients with end-stage liver disease,” added Dr. Doria.

LDLT is a procedure in which a healthy, living person donates a portion of his or her liver to another individual with end-stage liver failure.  Up to 70 percent of the donor’s liver may be safely removed and transplanted into the recipient, immediately after the recipient’s diseased liver has been entirely extracted.  After separation and transplantation, the two portions of the liver regenerate to nearly normal size for both the donor and the recipient.  (The liver is the only organ in the body capable of fully regenerating itself.)

Thomas Jefferson University Hospital has a tradition of outstanding success in the treatment of patients with all forms of acute and chronic liver disease.  Initiated in 1984, Jefferson’s is the longest continuously active Liver Transplantation program in the Philadelphia area and the hospital performed the first liver transplant in the Delaware Valley nearly 25 years ago.  Today, Jefferson’s team offers patients a comprehensive approach by combining a range of dedicated specialists who help each individual with their medical, psychological, and financial needs—step-by-step, from initial evaluation, through surgery and recuperation.

For more information on Liver Disease and Transplantation at Jefferson or to make an appointment with a specialist, call 1-800-JEFF-NOW or visit www.JeffersonHospital.org/transplant.