Transplant Conditions We Treat

For more than 40 years, UPMC has been a leader in the field of organ transplantation.

We provide comprehensive transplant care for people who are diagnosed with organ failure caused by a range of conditions, including:

Heart Disease

Advanced heart failure — When your heart can’t pump enough blood to support your body's needs.
Cardiomyopathy — When your heart muscle becomes diseased, enlarged, or rigid, and can’t pump blood effectively.
Congenital heart disease — A heart defect that is present at birth.
Coronary artery disease — A narrowing of the blood vessels that supply blood and nutrients to the heart.
Heart valve disease — An illness characterized by one or more of your four heart valves not working properly.
Pulmonary hypertension — High blood pressure in the lungs that can cause heart failure.

Abdominal trauma — Damage caused by an accident or injury.
Bowel obstruction syndrome — A blockage that prevents food or waste from moving through your intestines.
Crohn’s disease — Chronic inflammation that causes damage in the digestive tract.
Desmoid or neuroendocrine tumors — Tumors that develop in the digestive tract.
Motility problems — Nerve or muscle conditions that prevent the movement of food or waste through the digestive tract.
Short bowel syndrome — Occurs when the small intestine is shorter than normal as a result of a gastrointestinal condition and can’t absorb enough fluid or nutrients.
Vascular compression syndromes — Occur when blood vessels are compressed, leading to reduced blood flow to your intestines.
Vascular occlusion — A blood vessel blockage that causes damage to your intestine.

Acute kidney failure — A sudden decline in kidney function that causes kidney failure.
Autoimmune disorders — Conditions that cause your immune system to mistakenly attack your kidneys, such as glomerulonephritis, vasculitis, Goodpasture syndrome, lupus, or nephropathy.
Chronic kidney disease — A gradual, progressive decline in kidney function that causes kidney failure.
Complications caused by diabetes — Also called diabetic nephropathy, this occurs when high blood sugar levels cause kidney damage over time.
Congenital kidney disorders — Kidney conditions that are present at birth, such as a blockage in the urinary tract, a missing kidney, or kidney cysts.
End-stage kidney disease — The last stage of chronic kidney disease, which causes kidney failure.
Genetic kidney disease — Inherited disorders that cause kidney damage, such as Alport syndrome, polycystic kidney disease, or Fabry disease.
Kidney trauma — Damage caused by accident or injury.
Kidney tumors — Cancerous or noncancerous growths on the kidney.
Metabolic disorders — A type of chronic kidney disease that is related to obesity, diabetes, or high blood pressure.
Vascular disorders — Problems with blood flow to or from the kidneys, such as narrowing, blockage, aneurysm, blood clot, or obstruction of the renal veins or arteries.

Acute liver failure — Sudden loss of liver function.
Alcohol-associated liver disease — Liver disease caused by long-term alcohol use.
Cirrhosis — Irreversible scarring of the liver resulting from injury that disrupts the liver’s ability to function.
Bile duct and liver cancers — Cancer that occurs in your liver or the bile ducts, which are the tubes that carry bile from your liver to your gallbladder and small intestine.
Portal hypertension — High blood pressure in your portal vein, which carries blood to your liver.
Unresectable metastatic colorectal cancer — Colorectal cancer that has spread to your liver and cannot be surgically removed.
Unresectable neuroendocrine tumor — Cancer that can’t be surgically removed.
Variceal bleeding — Bleeding from enlarged veins.

Alpha 1 anti-trypsin deficiency — A genetic disorder that causes lung damage.
Bronchiectasis — Causes the airways to become widened and thickened, leading to increased mucus.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) — A group of lung conditions that causes inflammation, airflow blockage, and difficulty breathing.
Coal Workers’ Pneumoconiosis (Black Lung Disease) — Inflammation and scarring in the lungs caused by inhaling dust in and around coal mines.
Cystic fibrosis — A genetic disorder that causes thick, sticky mucus.
Emphysema — A type of COPD that causes damage to the air sacs and difficulty breathing.
Primary pulmonary hypertension — A rare disease that causes high blood pressure in the blood vessels of the lungs.
Pulmonary fibrosis — Chronic scarring and thickening of interstitial tissue in the lungs.
Sarcoidosis — A chronic condition that causes small clusters of immune cells called granulomas to form on the lungs.
Scleroderma — An autoimmune disease that causes skin and tissues to thicken and harden.
Secondary pulmonary hypertension — High blood pressure in the lungs caused by other lung or heart diseases.

Diabetes — A chronic disease that affects the production of a hormone called insulin, which regulates how your body uses glucose (sugar).
Blood sugar management issues — Occur when blood sugar is too high (hyperglycemia) or too low (hypoglycemia).

Graft-Versus-Host Disease – A rare complication than can occur after an organ transplant.
Intestinal Failure – A condition that occurs when your small intestine can’t absorb nutrients and fluids, causing dehydration and malnutrition.
Liver Transplant Rejection – An immune response where the recipient’s body attacks the transplanted liver, mistaking it as foreign tissue.
Post-Transplant Lymphoproliferative Disorder (PTLD) – A rare condition that causes white blood cells to multiply uncontrollably.