Transplant Surgery
Liver Transplantation

Transplant Surgery

General Information

Liver

Kidney

Pancreas

Heart and Heart/Lung

Living Donation

Physicians

Research

Liver transplantation is state-of-the art therapy for patients with end-stage liver disease. The University of Virginia performed its first successful liver transplant in September 1989. Since then, over 400 liver transplants have been performed at the University, the largest number in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Patients who have benefited from transplant include those with fulminant hepatic failure; those with unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma; those with advanced, irreversible chronic liver disease; pediatric patients; and those who have viral hepatitis.

Innovative use of pharmacokinetic-guided passive immunization for hepatitis B has allowed liver transplantation to be a practical treatment for a common disease. UVa's ongoing research in hepatitis B includes optimizing the delivery of immune globulin and augmenting this therapy with new anti-viral agents directed against the hepatitis B virus. Researchers at UVa are also studying hepatitis C virus subtypes, as well as the application of techniques that have been successful with the prevention of hepatitis B to patients transplanted for hepatitis C.