Liver Transplant Services

If you're living with a chronic liver disease or liver cancer, you can find hope at UPMC.

Our program offers multidisciplinary liver transplant services and surgical options to all who can benefit, including those who cannot receive a transplant at another center due to high surgical risks or complex care needs.

Our team has performed more than 6,000 adult liver transplants to date and more than 1,000 adult and pediatric living-donor liver transplants.

Start Your Transplant Journey

What Is A Liver Transplant?

During a liver transplant, a surgeon removes a patient’s diseased liver and replaces it with a liver from a deceased donor or a portion of a healthy adult’s liver (living-donor liver transplant). In living-donor transplants, the liver has the unique ability to regenerate, or regrow, in just a few months, leaving both the living donor and the recipient with fully functioning livers.

What Conditions Do We Treat? 

Liver transplants are performed to treat end-stage liver disease, or in some cases, liver cancer.

Who’s Eligible for a Liver Transplant?

You may be eligible for a liver transplant if you have end-stage liver disease that is no longer responding to treatment.

Who is not a candidate for a liver transplant?

Although a liver transplant may be a lifesaving option, not everyone is a candidate for the operation.

You may not be a candidate for a liver transplant if you have other serious health conditions, such as:

• Active infections.
• Active substance abuse, such as alcohol and drug use.
• Certain types of cancer.
• Certain kidney or heart diseases.

What Services Do We Offer? 

We offer a full range of liver transplant services at UPMC. Your transplant team will talk to you about your options at your pretransplant evaluation.

Liver transplantation

UPMC provides complete liver transplantation care for people with complex liver conditions, including those with advanced liver cancer. Liver transplant surgeons are experienced in using both deceased donor livers and living-donor liver transplants using a portion of a healthy adult’s liver.

Living-donor liver transplantation

At UPMC, our philosophy is that living donation should be discussed with every patient as it can potentially reduce time on the waiting list and improve outcomes.

UPMC provides living-donor liver transplant services to all who will benefit, including patients with complex conditions, such as:

• Acute liver failure.
• Alcohol-associated hepatitis.
• Cholangiocarcinoma.
• Low MELD score.

Living-donor liver transplant for liver cancer

UPMC’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 surgery 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 cancer diagnoses, including:

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

Liver resection for cancer

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 people 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.

Bile duct reconstruction

Bile duct cancer affects the tubes that carry bile from the liver to the gallbladder. Bile is a 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.
• Liver transplant — To remove the diseased liver and replace it with a healthy liver from a living donor.
• Partial hepatectomy — To remove the tumor and some of the surrounding tissue, leaving healthy tissue intact.

Surgical and nonsurgical treatment for portal hypertension and variceal bleeding

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 occurs 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 offer treatment options such as liver transplantation and antiviral medications — the same ones used to treat hepatitis B and hepatitis C.

What Can I Expect? 

UPMC offers comprehensive transplant services in Pittsburgh, Pa., with liver transplant evaluations available at clinics throughout Pennsylvania. Our program accepts self-referrals and physician referrals.

What happens after you are referred to UPMC for liver transplant services?

Scheduling your liver transplant evaluation

Our team will schedule an appointment for your transplant evaluation. Before your appointment, our experts will review your history and prior testing to see if you might be a liver transplant candidate. UPMC has clinics throughout Pennsylvania where you can find out if a liver transplant is an option. Find a location near you.

At your liver transplant evaluation

During your liver transplant evaluation, you will meet with our medical and surgical transplant teams to discuss your disease as well as the short- and long-term aspects of transplantation. Your care team might also order tests and perform exams to gather more information about your condition.

After your liver transplant evaluation

A multidisciplinary group of experts will review your case and decide if a liver transplant is your best option. We'll let you know our decision within several weeks of your evaluation.

If you qualify for a liver transplant at one of our clinics, you will be listed on the national transplant waiting list. Once an organ is found for you, or if you have a living donor, we will arrange your surgery at UPMC Montefiore in Pittsburgh, Pa.  

Your liver transplant team

Your liver transplant team may include:

• Living donor coordinators — Guide living donors through all phases of the donation process. The living donor coordinator is your resource for all questions and concerns about living donation.
• Hepatologists (liver specialists) — Diagnose, treat, and manage liver conditions and liver failure.
• Nurse practitioners — Work closely with doctors, nurses, and staff to extend the care provided by doctors. Nurse practitioners participate in the care of transplant candidates, recipients of liver transplants, and living donors.
• Pharmacists — Transplant pharmacists assist with medication management and medication education before and after transplant.
• Research transplant coordinators — Transplant nurses who coordinate and oversee patients who participate in research protocols for studies and clinical trials.
• Surgeons — Perform transplant surgeries at UPMC Montefiore in Pittsburgh, Pa.
• Transplant coordinators — Registered nurses who provide education and guidance before and after your transplant.
• Transplant financial coordinators — Review your insurance coverage for transplant and post-transplant medications. They may also be able to recommend additional coverage to help reduce your out-of-pocket expenses after transplant.
• Transplant social workers — Help you review your social, financial, and support systems to make sure that your transplant will be a successful experience. They are also available after transplant to help you get the medicines you need and address other social concerns you may have.

Why Choose UPMC for Liver Transplant? 

When you choose UPMC for liver transplant care, you will receive:

• Access to experienced, board-certified specialists — 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.
• Expert care for complex cases — 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. This experience allows us to treat patients with complex liver conditions, including those with advanced liver cancer.
• Personalized liver transplant care — From thorough evaluation to world-class treatment, we provide a patient-centered approach to care throughout the entire transplant process. Your dedicated transplant team will guide and support you every step of the way.

Contact Us

For patients

• New liver transplant patients, call 833-514-5999.
• If you have already met with the UPMC Liver Transplant team, call 412-647-5800.
• Toll-free: 1-855-614-0757.
• If you are a patient interested in requesting an appointment, complete our online form.

For physicians

Contact UPMC about transplant referral.

By UPMC Editorial Staff. Last reviewed on 2025-12-09.