Cedars-Sinai Liver Transplant Program achieves 96% 1-year survival

Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Transplant Center’s Liver Transplant Program reported top 1-year survival outcomes among California hospitals, according to a national report compiled by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients and a press release.

“Our ability to successfully transplant complex cases of severe liver disease is due, in large measure, to the multidisciplinary integrated care provided by experienced, technically excellent surgeons and anesthesiologists working with a comprehensive post-transplant team,” Andrew Klein, MD, director of the Cedars-Sinai Transplant Center, said in the release. “Patient care does not end after the surgery; it is only beginning.”

According to the report, 96% of 144 patients who underwent liver transplantation between Jan. 1, 2015, and June 30, 2017, survived past 1-year.

The transplant center’s team has completed 103 liver transplants in 2018 as of November, representing an increase in volume of almost 100% compared with the last 3 years.

“One of the most important aspects of our growth and success has been the constant focus on improving the management of patients with severe liver failure who have only a few weeks to live,” Nissen said in the release. “We have worked hard to create a system that patients, family members and referring doctors can trust, from the point of referral until they have a new liver and are safely home.”

Nissen stated that the center has projects underway to expand care to underserved communities and increase efforts to meet the national donor organ shortage by salvaging livers that were previously discarded such as those from donors with HIV or hepatitis C.

Reference: www.cshs.org

Disclosure: Healio Gastroenterology and Liver Disease was unable to confirm Klein’s relevant financial disclosures at the time of publication.