| HOME | ||
| Patient Resources | The Program of Care | Our Commitment to Excellence |
| Patient Handbooks | The Evaluation Process | Milestones |
| Links | Waiting for an Organ | Research |
| Costs of Transplant | The Transplant Procedure | Staff |
| After the Transplant | Program Statistics | |
Liver Transplantation
The Transplant Procedure
The transplant patient will be notified by the transplant nurse coordinator that a liver has become available. Plans must be set to come to the hospital as soon as possible. The Blood Bank, the Intensive Care Unit and the Operating Room will also be notified that a transplant is planned.
The patient will be admitted to the University of Virginia Health System as an inpatient, and will receive final pre-operative lab work, EKG and a chest X-ray. If these results are acceptable, the patient will be taken to the operating room.
Prior to the removal of your failed liver, a large tube is placed into the large vein in your leg and another in the portal vein to drain blood from the lower part of the body. This blood passes through a pump and back into the large tube placed in the large vein in the neck to return blood to the heart. A clamp is then placed on the vena cava above and below the liver. Clamps are also placed on the artery to the liver (hepatic artery) and on the portal vein. The liver is removed and the bleeding stopped.
The donor liver is kept cold while it is sewn in place. This usually takes 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Five anastomoses must be made (veins and arteries connected). The first is the vena cava above the liver, the second is the vena cava below the liver. The third and fourth are the portal vein and hepatic artery.
Once all four of these are done, the clamps are released and blood is allowed to flow through the liver. Blood from the lower part of the body passes through the vena cava to the heart once again.
The fifth and final step involves sewing the bile ducts together, placing the drainage tubes (usually three), closing the incision and removing tubes from the groin and neck whiIe the liver is warming up.
The entire operation usually takes 5-8 hours but can take up to 10 hours. The average blood loss during liver transplant surgery is 5 units. Some patients have a higher blood loss and require more blood transfusion based on their medical condition prior to the liver transplant operation.