Our Liver Transplant Program

A liver transplant, also called a hepatic transplant, is a complex surgical procedure performed to replace a damaged liver with a whole or portion of a healthy liver from a donor. It can help save a patient’s life when the liver is no longer functioning normally. Since the liver is the only organ in the body able to regenerate, a transplanted portion of a liver can grow to its full capacity within a few weeks. This means that the transplanted liver can come from a living or deceased donor.

The number of people who need a liver transplant is a lot higher than the number of livers donated. About 8,000 liver transplants are performed in the United States each year. Miami Transplant Institute performs more than 150 liver transplants a year, one of the highest volumes in the U.S. and in the world.

A liver transplant becomes necessary when the liver can no longer function properly due to failure, which is a serious, life-threatening condition. A liver can fail due to chronic liver failure (long-term damage) or acute liver failure (extensive damage occurring in a short period of time). Although liver failure can be managed for a short period of time with medication, a liver transplant is the only cure in the long term.

The liver can become damaged due to illness, infection, or injury. This long-term damage can lead to cirrhosis, which occurs when scar tissue replaces healthy liver tissue. This stops the liver from functioning normally.

Some of the most common reasons for chronic liver injury include:

When a patient satisfies the requirements for a liver transplant as determined during pre-transplant medical assessments, they will be placed on a national transplant waiting list. Depending on the urgency of the clinical need for a liver transplant, the patient is placed on a high-priority to medium-priority waiting list. The waiting period for receipt of a liver donation can range from less than 30 days to more than five years.

Certain factors such as age, geographic location, blood type, body size, and overall health, can contribute to the availability of a matching liver, and impact the length of the wait time. In some circumstances, a patient may be able to shorten their wait time if a family member or friend with the same blood type is willing to donate a part of their liver as part of a living liver donor transplant.

When a matching liver is found, the transplant team coordinator will call the patient immediately, provide directions on preparation before going to the hospital, and ask them to come to the hospital right away.

If a medical provider thinks a patient might need a liver transplant, the patient will then be referred to a transplant center like Miami Transplant Institute for a full medical evaluation before they can be added to the waiting list. The transplant team will assess if the patient is a good candidate for a liver transplant and determine how urgently they need one.

As part of the evaluation, a series of tests will be conducted including:

A liver transplant is a major surgery with potential risk of some serious complications. These can happen during, soon after, or even years afterwards. Some of the main complications and risks of a liver transplant are:

A liver transplant surgery typically lasts about eight to 12 hours. Surgery often takes longer if the patient has had previous surgeries, due to scar tissue.

During a liver transplant, the surgeon will:

After the surgery, the patient will be taken to the intensive care unit to be closely monitored for a few days.

After a liver transplant, the patient will need to ensure good nutritional intake to help the body heal and maintain health. It is important to eat enough calories and protein to allow the incision to heal and to fight infection. A nutritionist or dietitian will provide a healthy eating plan that may include the following recommendations:

It will take about six weeks to fully recover from a liver transplant. After the first week, the patient can begin to do gentle movement such as walking. Over time, they can slowly increase the amount of walking or add other light activity. However, it is important for patients to avoid any heavy lifting, pushing or pulling until six weeks after the transplant in order to prevent tearing the incision. After 6 weeks, the patient is typically able to resume normal exercise.

If you or a loved one needs a liver transplant, Miami Transplant Institute’s multidisciplinary team will provide the best possible care. Our knowledge and experience, as well as our innovative and leading-edge procedures deliver patient outcomes that exceed national averages.

Miami Transplant Institute has been performing liver transplants for almost 50 years with more than 4,000 livers transplanted since 1988. The expertise of our team means that we can transplant new livers in patients who have been turned down by other centers because of their age or medical conditions. As a result, physicians at other transplant centers often will send their most complex cases to us.