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Liver Transplant Program at UPMC
Liver Transplant Program at UPMC

Liver Transplant Program at UPMC

At least 30 million Americans have some form of liver disease. And each year, doctors diagnose about 21,000 new cases of primary liver cancer.

If you're living with a chronic liver disease or liver cancer, you have hope at UPMC’s Liver Transplant Program of the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute.

The philosophy of our program is to provide liver transplant services and surgery options to all who will benefit, including those that other transplant centers deem high-risk or unfit for transplant.


Contact the UPMC Liver Transplant Program


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Find a Transplant Doctor

Search our online directory for a transplant doctor.

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Request an Appointment

Submit your request with our online form.

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Call 833-514-5999, Monday through Friday, from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

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Interested in receiving weekly updates to keep you in-the-know about UPMC Transplant Services? Text TRANSPLANT to 91939 to opt in to messages about our services and more. View our terms of use.

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Our Liver Treatment and Transplant Services

Located in Pittsburgh, the UPMC Liver Transplant Program is part of the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute. This combined effort provides you with a multidisciplinary, team-based approach to your care.

Treatment options for adults who have liver diseases or malignancies include:

UPMC is one of the oldest and largest liver transplant programs in the country. Since the program's inception in 1981, more than 6,000 adults have received liver transplants. This experience allows us to treat patients with complex liver conditions, including those with advanced liver cancer.

From the early years when Dr. Starzl pioneered a new field of surgery to more recent breakthroughs in immunosuppressive therapies, this progress has given hope to thousands of people with liver disease.

The UPMC Liver Transplant Program’s expertise and innovation includes transplant oncology — a treatment option in which doctors remove a patient’s cancerous liver and replace it with part of a living donor’s healthy liver.

The donated liver portion regrows to its original size, usually a few months after transplant. The donor’s liver regrows too.

Living-donor liver transplant can be an earlier and faster treatment for patients with advanced cancers.

UPMC offers living-donor liver transplantation as a treatment option for patients with these cancer diagnoses:

  • Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
  • Hilar cholangiocarcinoma.
  • Intrahepatic cholangiocarcinoma or mixed cholangio/hepatocellular carcinoma.
  • Unresectable metastatic colorectal cancer.
  • Unresectable neuroendocrine tumor.

Liver resection involves the total or partial removal of the liver. Because of its regenerative ability, liver resection allows for continual functionality, even when parts of it are removed.

For patients diagnosed with liver cancer, liver resection offers the best chance for long-term survival. Our team has extensive experience in minimally invasive (laparoscopic) liver surgery as well as traditional (open) liver surgery. UPMC’s liver surgeons have pioneered minimally invasive (laparoscopic) liver surgery and have performed this technique more than 250 times — making them one of the most experienced teams in the United States.

Bile duct cancer is cancer in the tubes that carry bile from the liver to the gallbladder. Bile is fluid your liver makes and uses to digest fats in the food you eat. At UPMC, our transplant team conducts different surgeries to treat bile duct cancer, such as:

  • Bile duct removal: To remove the bile duct if the cancer hasn't spread.
  • Partial hepatectomy: To remove the tumor and some of the surrounding tissue, leaving healthy tissue intact.
  • Liver transplant: To remove the diseased liver and replace it with a healthy liver from a living donor.

Portal hypertension is the increased pressure in the portal vein, which is often a symptom of liver disease that is commonly caused by scarring in the liver. Similarly, variceal bleeding is initiated when there is too much pressure on the portal vein, causing blood flow to be restricted or pushed backward.

At UPMC, depending on the complexity of the disease, we provide treatment options such as liver transplantation and antiviral medicines used for treating hepatitis B and hepatitis C.

Find out what to expect with our liver transplant process at UPMC.


Why Choose UPMC's Liver Transplant Program?

  • Our program is one of the oldest and largest in the United States.
  • Since the program's inception in 1981, more than 6,000 adults have received liver transplants.

From the early years when Dr. Starzl pioneered a new field of surgery to more recent breakthroughs in immunosuppressive therapies, this progress has given hope to thousands of people with liver disease.

Meet some people who chose UPMC for liver transplant surgery.


UPMC and Donate Life America Partnership

Donate Life America Partnership

UPMC and Donate Life America are partnering to raise awareness of living donation.

Learn more about this partnership.

Hillman Center for Pediatric Transplantation

Pediatric Transplant

UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh opened the first pediatric organ transplant program in the United States. The Hillman Center has performed more children's organ transplants than any other pediatric center in the nation.

Learn more about pediatric transplants.

Learn More About Liver Transplant and Organ Donation

To learn more, visit UPMC HealthBeat.

Medical Mondays: Living Donor
Medical Mondays: Living Donor
Living-Donor Transplant: A Choice to Stop Waiting and Keep Living
Living-Donor Transplant: A Choice to Stop Waiting and Keep Living
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