Living Donor Liver Transplantation
Columbia's Jean C. Emond, MD, was a member of the team that pioneered living donor liver transplantation, which is now considered one of the most important advances in the treatment of severe liver disease. Approximately 15-20%of the center's transplant patients currently receive a liver from a living donor. Initially performed in children beginning in 1988, living donor transplantation enables the patient to obtain a transplant right away and avoid time waiting for a donor liver—during which a patient can become sicker and weaker. A living donor can be a family member or friend.
The Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation is one of only a few programs offering the procedure. As of June, 2007, the program has performed 154 living donor liver transplants, including 111 adult recipients and 43 children.
Read personal stories about living donor liver transplantation at the CLDT.
If you are interested in being evaluated for liver donation and want additional information, please contact the CLDT by calling our toll-free number for referrals and consultations, 1.877.LIVER MD (1.877.548.3763).
The Procedure
The living donor may be an adult not directly related to the recipient, or a family member. The donor is carefully evaluated by the transplant team to ensure the donation would harm neither donor nor recipient.
For the transplant, either the right lobe or the left lobe of the donor's liver is removed from the donor and implanted in the recipient. The portion of the donor liver selected depends on the size of the donor and recipient and the blood supply to the liver. Both segments (the remaining section of the donor's liver, and the portion received by the patient) will regenerate and grow to fit the needs of each individual. Click here to learn about living donor transplantation and becoming a living donor.
About the National Living Donor Assistance Center
The National Living Donor Assistance Center (NLDAC), established by the U.S. Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), provides financial assistance to those who want to donate an organ. The program covers travel, lodging, meals and incidental expenses incurred by the donor and/or accompanying person(s) as part of:
- Donor evaluation, clinic visit or hospitalization,
- Hospitalization for the living donor surgical procedure, and/or
- Medical or surgical follow-up clinic visit or hospitalization within 90 days following the living donation procedure.
The program will pay for a total of up to five trips; three for the donor and two for accompanying persons. The accompanying persons need not be the same each trip. Priority is given to individuals not otherwise able to afford the travel and subsistence expenses associated with living organ donation.
To learn more see: http://www.livingdonorassistance.org/
