Our Approach To Liver Transplantation
One of the top liver centers in the nation and one of the largest pediatric liver transplantation programs in the Northeast, our comprehensive liver program is an internationally renowned destination for transplants in children and adults with acute or chronic liver disease and liver cancer. Our liver transplant survival rate is among the best in the nation with 100% survival of living donor liver transplants and overall survival rates consistently exceeding national standards. We are ranked in the top 1% of all hospitals in the nation for complex specialty transplant care according to U.S. News & World Report. We have one of the longest-running NIH-funded liver research centers in the nation.
Home to the first double organ—lung-liver—transplant in New York State, and one of the few centers in the nation to perform multi-organ liver transplantation with simultaneous lung or heart failure, we perform liver transplantation not provided by other centers. We were the first transplant center in New York City to safely transplant a liver infected with hepatitis C virus into an uninfected patient, increasing the organ pool and improving access for transplant candidates. We provide expanded criteria for donors with medical complexities, viral hepatitis and HIV, split and domino liver transplantation, paired donor exchange for live organ donation, and innovative desensitization programs for patients with high antibody levels and incompatible blood types.
Our expertise in complex pediatric liver disease includes transplantation in infants less than one year old. We were among the first in the Northeast to eliminate the need for liver transplantation through the use of MARS® liver dialysis technology and are today still one of the only hospitals in the Northeast using it.
Our elite multidisciplinary team of pediatric and adult transplant experts includes hepatobiliary transplant surgeons who are fellowship-trained in advanced liver transplantation techniques, transplant hepatologists, medical and surgical oncologists, gastroenterologists, transplant immunologists, transplant anesthesiologists, radiologists, pathologists, geneticists, virologists, critical care specialists, psychiatrists, nutritionists, physical and occupational therapists, and a team of dedicated transplant coordinators.
Among the Best Liver Transplant Survival Rates in the Nation
Our liver transplant survival rates are among the best in the nation with 100% three-year survival of pediatric and adult recipients of live donor liver transplants. Our three-year liver transplant survival rate in adult recipients of deceased donor grafts is the highest in New York State and exceeds national standards. We specialize in multi-organ transplant procedures with 100% one-year survival of adult Liver-Heart and 100% one-year survival of pediatric Kidney-Liver transplant recipients.
How We Minimize Wait Times
The wait time for liver transplants can be very long, which we strive to minimize through advanced techniques that widen the potential organ donor pool. These include splitting livers for two recipients, live donor transplants, and the use of normothermic preservation technology to improve the function of marginal and DCD (donation after circulatory dysfunction death) organs.
Advanced Diagnostics & Surgical Techniques
Our world-renowned specialists use advanced pre- and post-transplant diagnostics for evaluation of donor livers and recipients including the latest diagnostic imaging technologies such as ultrasonography (US), cholangiography, computerized tomography (CT), magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), MR-angiography, -venography, -cholangiopancreatography, and scintigraphy. Liver biopsy as well as biomarkers and analytes are also used to optimize the diagnosis of rejection after liver transplantation.
We are among the few hospitals in the United States to have an Organ Procurement & Transplantation Network (OPTN) member transplant histocompatibility laboratory. Our in-house American Society for Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics (ASHI) accredited immunology lab offers state-of-the-art histocompatibility, immunology and immunogenetics testing including HLA typing, antibody, and crossmatch testing We also offer innovative desensitization programs for patients with high antibody levels and incompatible blood types.
Our transplant experts utilize the most advanced surgical approaches available today, including minimally invasive and robotically-assisted surgery for faster recovery. Our continued work in the development of newly-emerging techniques and technologies allows us to provide the latest leading-edge surgical techniques. We performed the first double organ, lung-liver, transplant in New York State, and remain one of a few centers in the nation to perform complex multi-organ liver transplantation with simultaneous lung or heart failure. We take on complex cases that other transplant centers turn down, including bile duct cancer and patients with bariatric surgery prior to liver transplantation. Our innovations include advanced therapies for liver cancer prior to transplant, a unique multidisciplinary approach for patients with alcohol related liver disease, bloodless transplants for patients with religious or medical restrictions, and normothermic liver preservation technology.
We were the first transplant center to safely transplant a liver infected with hepatitis C virus into an uninfected patient which has now become standard national practice. We also offer split and domino liver transplantation, paired donor exchange for live organ donation, and innovative desensitization programs for patients with high antibody levels and incompatible blood types.
Our expertise in managing complex pediatric liver cases includes liver transplantation in infants less than one year old. We were the first in the Northeast to utilize an artificial liver support system, molecular adsorbent recirculating system (MARS)-albumin blood filtration, as a bridge to transplant or recovery for children with acute liver failure, and are today still one of the few hospitals in the Northeast using it.
To ensure successful transplantation, we optimize graft survival with advanced immunosuppressive therapies and novel immune tolerance protocols. These include tissue biopsy, non-invasive and minimally-invasive liquid biopsy, and immunological tests to help optimize immunosuppressive therapy.
A National Leader in Living Donor Transplantation
Our robust living donor program offers a way for individuals to get a lifesaving transplant sooner. Family, friends and anonymous altruistic living donors participate in the program, reducing the wait time for transplantation in matched recipients. Live donor transplant success rates have been shown to be equivalent to deceased donor transplant success rates. We are among the best in the nation with three-year liver transplant survival rates of 100% for both pediatric and adult recipients of live donor liver transplants.
For our patients in need of a liver or kidney transplant, we created the first-of-its-kind revolutionary I Want to Live Digital Tool which uses artificial intelligence (AI) and video to tell their story of why they want to live. This proprietary tool offers a completely novel and unique approach to helping those who need a transplant overcome the hurdle of asking for help and reaching potential donors.
Navigating the Transplant Process
The Montefiore Einstein Center for Transplantation provides a number of resources to help, educate and support you and your family through the entire transplant process, including a dedicated transplant coordinator to help you navigate each step of your journey before, during and after surgery.
Our Helping Hands Program, a resource network of doctors, nurses, nutritionists, social workers and administrators, helps people navigate and better manage their health and lives as they go through the transplantation process, and complements state-of-the-art medicine with holistic approaches to improve quality of life for patients, families, and caregivers.
Research & Clinical Trials
The Marion Bessin Liver Research Center at Montefiore Einstein is one of the longest running NIH-funded liver research centers in the nation. Our world-renowned physician-scientists and scientists are working to develop new treatments derived from stem cells for liver diseases, including liver cancer, researching a human-cell–based artificial liver system that could prolong survival for patients waiting to receive a liver transplant, and studying how tumor cells circulate through the bloodstream to become new tumors, research that could benefit patients with cirrhosis of the liver and liver cancer. We are spearheading clinical trials for people with chronic liver diseases and studying the preservation of deceased donor livers with normothermic machine perfusion. Our contributions to the NIH Adult to Adult Living Donor Liver Transplantation Cohort Study is leading to improvements in the care of living liver donors.
Your Liver Transplant Team
Enver Akalin, MD, Fellow of the American Society of Nephrology
Brett E. Fortune, MD, MS
Jay A. Graham, MD, MBA
Milan M. Kinkhabwala, MD
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1-888-RX-LIVER (1-888-795-4837) • transplant@montefiore.org