Transplantation at UPMC
At UPMC, it's not about the number of transplant operations we've performed.
While no other medical center can match our numbers (source: UNOS), the reason we've performed more organ transplants than any other center in the world is because we're home to more of the world's transplant experts: the surgeons who guide people to new lives as organ recipients, the nurses and physicians who provide care before and after surgery, and the researchers who move the field forward.
We've been performing successful organ transplants for longer than most medical centers. That's because UPMC was one of the first centers to use the breakthrough drugs that keep patients' immune systems from rejecting their new organs. Also, we have a long history of helping to develop new antirejection therapies that work better with fewer side effects -- so organ recipients can enjoy better health with fewer restrictions. Our latest work may greatly reduce the need for antirejection medications, or even eliminate the need for them altogether.
UPMC experts also have a distinguished history of pioneering and perfecting new transplant procedures, making it possible to treat even more diseases -- conditions that would otherwise cut short a human life. Our surgeons have accomplished several world-firsts, including the first transplants of several organs at a time and the first intestine, lung, and pancreas transplants. But none of these landmarks would have been achieved if we had not first undertaken exacting laboratory work to show that these operations would be safe, feasible, and effective.
Today, UPMC performs more types of transplantation than any other center in the world, including liver, kidney, pancreas, small bowel, liver/small bowel, heart, heart/lung, double-lung, single-lung, and multiple-organ transplants. On average, a transplant is performed every 12 hours at UPMC. Since 1981, we have conducted more than 12,000 organ transplants. More important than the number of procedures is the number of people who thrive as a result: UPMC's transplant recipients have survival rates that are higher than the national average.
At UPMC, we've treated more patients because we have more years of experience, and experience with more kinds of transplantation, than any other center in the world.