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Liver Transplant
If you have end-stage liver disease, a liver transplant can bring hope. Thousands of patients have trusted their care to the experienced team at University of Florida Health Shands Transplant Center. Our center has over 30 years of experience providing excellent care to patients with complex liver diseases.
UF Health - A leader in organ transplantation
Our multidisciplinary care team draws on the expertise of many specialties working to provide you with the best care possible. While other centers may follow a liver transplant patient for several months after surgery, at UF Health, we follow our patients for life.
Our commitment is reflected in outstanding outcomes. The most recent data released in July 2024 by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, or SRTR, placed us No. 1 among liver transplant programs in the country. We maintain the best one-year transplant patient survival rate of 99.03% compared to the national average of 93.71%.
What to expect
Our Patient Education section gives you information about the liver transplant process, from being evaluated as a candidate, what to expect during the procedure, and aftercare.
Liver transplant services
Our board-certified surgeons are faculty members at the University of Florida and are expertly trained in general surgery and liver transplantation surgery. Our transplant surgeon will direct you to our outpatient practice, where we offer a wide array of surgical consultations and evaluations to determine if you or a loved one are a liver transplant candidate.
Our team provides you with a customized treatment plan. To do this, our team works closely together and with you to understand you, your liver condition and your treatment goals. This enables us to develop an optimal treatment plan based on your needs. Our team closely follows you as you await transplant and following transplant, which helps to improve patient outcomes.
An evaluation is scheduled to see how advanced your liver disease is, as well as to ensure that the rest of your body is healthy enough to manage a liver transplant. While waiting for an organ, you will receive a thorough yearly examination. This is because livers can become available quickly, and you need to be physically ready for liver transplantation at short notice.
Once you are determined to be a good candidate for a liver transplant, you will be placed on the liver transplant waiting list. Your MELD score, or Model for End-Stage Liver Disease, will determine how long you will wait for a new liver.
When a suitable donor becomes available, a donor transplant coordinator will call you.
Liver transplant surgery
Liver transplant surgery will last between 4-8 hours. Following surgery, each liver transplant recipient will likely be in the intensive care unit (ICU) for about two days, and then spend another 8-10 days in a regular hospital room. This is so we can provide, close follow-up care after surgery to help monitor medications and ensure the liver transplant recipient is recovering properly with a healthy liver, decreasing the risk of liver failure.
Jessica’s liver transplant journey
Make a gift
Help support our liver transplant patients by making a gift as a living donor.
- Shands Liver Transplant Program
- UF Health Patient and Family Transplant Housing
- UF Health Adult Liver Transplant Program Support Fund
Become a living liver donor today.
Related liver transplantation podcast episodes
Study suggests coffee might reduce risk of liver disease
Coffee drinks have a reduced risk of developing and dying from chronic liver disease. That’s compared with non-coffee drinkers. It didn’t matter what kind of coffee they drank.
Researchers find link between demographics and liver cancer
Hispanics, as well as the elderly and people with diabetes, have a higher risk of developing liver cancer, a new study has shown.
Even our livers are fat!
Fifteen percent of study participants had liver disease. Meanwhile, other conditions that affect the liver, including hepatitis B and C, and alcoholic liver disease, became less common.
Community and Patient Programs: Liver Transplant
Our community and patient programs provide great value to patients, families and loved ones. People can find support, educational materials, expert consultants and more. In most instances, these programs are offered free of charge.
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Camp Boggy Creek
Children with serious illnesses can enjoy a camp experience in a safe, medically sound environment.
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Liver Support Group
This support group provides education and psychosocial support for patients who have liver disease or are awaiting liver transplants and who have been transplanted. Call (352) 265-0754 for the next scheduled meeting of the support group.
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Music in the Clinical Setting
Offers a wide variety of music-based therapies from in-room performances to collaborative recording sessions.
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Streetlight
Peer companionship for adolescents and young adults living with serious illness.
News and Patient Stories: Liver Transplant
UF Health liver, kidney and lung transplant programs top in Florida, in U.S. top 5
July 24, 2024
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — UF Health’s lung, liver, and kidney transplant programs are the state’s best and in the top 5 nationwide. Every six months, the Scientific…
UF Health
A Hero With Wings
As we celebrate Donate Life Month, we shine a light on Jessica Turnbough, who was inspired by an organ donation that saved her childhood friend’s life.
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Study suggests coffee might reduce risk of liver disease
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Researchers find link between demographics and liver cancer
Hispanics, as well as the elderly and people with diabetes, have a higher risk of developing liver cancer, a new study has shown. University of Florida researchers looked for factors that put...
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