NewYork-Presbyterian. The University Hospital of Columbia and Cornell.

Transplantation

The Surgery

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Liver Transplant Surgery

Once a donor liver becomes available, the patient must come to the hospital immediately and undergo testing to ensure he or she is healthy enough to withstand transplantation. Deceased donor procedures must be done within 12 to 18 hours of the donor organ's procurement.

Examination of a donor liver that
was stored with machine preservation.

If the donor organ is to come from a living donor, the donor and recipient each come to the hospital at designated times for pre-surgical testing. Approximately 15-20% of the Center's transplant patients currently receive a liver from a living donor.

The Operation

The transplant procedure is performed under general anesthesia, and entails numerous steps:

• A tube is inserted into the patient's throat to facilitate breathing during surgery
• Immunosuppressant drugs are administered to prevent organ rejection
• Surgeons make an incision across the patient's abdomen
• The diseased liver is disconnected from the main blood vessels and bile ducts
• The new liver is then placed in the abdomen and connected to the blood vessels and bile ducts
• The abdominal incision is closed with sutures and staples
• The patient is taken to the intensive care unit for recovery

Surgery may take between four and eight hours.