A National Leader in Living Liver Donation
Montefiore Einstein Center for Transplantation has a 100 percent survival rate in our living donor liver recipients. Our breakthroughs with minimally invasive techniques have made living organ donation safer and easier on our patients.
The Many Benefits of Living Liver Donation
For a patient in need, a living donor transplant can shorten lengthy wait times, expedite surgery and potentially save a life. Living donors increase the number of livers available and make it possible for more patients to get transplants.
While livers on the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) waitlist come from deceased donors, living organ donations come from healthy, living donors. In living donation, part of the donor’s liver is removed and used to replace the patient's diseased liver. With time, both the patient's transplanted partial liver and the donor's remaining liver grow back to full size. Montefiore Einstein Center for Transplantation offers live donor liver transplant for adults and children on the transplant waitlist who have found compatible live donors.
Timing of transplant can be controlled and conveniently scheduled.
Live donation may be especially beneficial for pediatric patients, who often have long waits because of the lack of a suitably sized match from a deceased donor.
Some patients with liver tumors, cholestatic liver diseases (CLDs) or certain blood types may respond better to a live donor liver than to one from a deceased donor. Our survival rate for live donor liver transplant recipients is 100 percent, equal to that of deceased donor transplants.
New Yorkers wait longer for a transplant and are sicker at the time of transplant than patients in many other parts of the country. Right now, almost 10,000 patients are waiting for life-saving organ transplants in New York State. Living donors make a real and immediate impact—more livers mean more lives saved. And there are even more good reasons to consider live liver donation.
A living donor may be a family member, friend or altruistic stranger. Donors may remain anonymous. All candidates undergo a detailed independent screening process and are given extensive education about the surgery and potential risks. If a candidate lives far away, some of the evaluation may be done remotely. Donors must:
- Be a healthy adult 18-59 years old
- Have a body mass index (BMI) less than 35
- Have no major existing medical or psychosocial issues
What to Expect as a Living Donor
All surgeries have risks. However, living liver donation has been performed for many years and shown to be a safe procedure for healthy people. Donor and recipient surgeries often take place simultaneously in different operating rooms, each with their own dedicated surgical team. The donor operation typically takes between three to four hours. Following surgery, donors can expect to recover in-hospital for about one week, during which time they are monitored with imaging and blood tests. Donors are advised to limit their physical activities for two to three months after surgery.
Becoming a Living Liver Donor
A living organ donor can be a relative, friend or simply an altruistic stranger. All donors can remain anonymous, if they so choose. All candidates undergo a thorough independent screening process, where they’re provided extensive education about the surgery and informed of any potential risks. In the instance a candidate lives far away, a portion of the evaluation can be done remotely.
If you are interested in being evaluated as a living donor please click the link below to fill out an initial questionnaire. You can also contact our Living Donor Team at 1-844LIVEDON (1-844-548-3366).
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Have a general question or concern?
We’re available to help you by phone or by email.
718-655-1120 • transplant@montefiore.org