AVÑо¿Ëù

Historically, the vast majority of livers donated for transplantation come from deceased donors. Because of this, some people wait more than five years to receive their transplant. Others die before receiving a new liver. The Living Donor Liver Transplantation Program at AVÑо¿Ëù and NewYork-Presbyterian presents an alternative to traditional deceased liver transplantation and saves lives in New York City and beyond.

With a living donor transplant, there is no waiting for a deceased donor. Instead, a healthy, living person donates a portion of their liver, often before you reach end-stage liver disease. Once transplantation is complete, both parts of the organ regenerate, leaving the donor and recipient with full-sized livers.

The Benefits of a Living Liver Donation

Receiving a liver through live donation offers many benefits. These include the following:

• Less waiting. You can spend a long time on the transplant waiting list when waiting for a deceased donor liver. Receiving a living donor’s liver happens more quickly. In fact, you may not spend any time on the wait list, and you may receive a transplant before your liver and overall health deteriorate.
• More convenience. While deceased donor transplantation must take place in a small window of time, a living donor liver transplant isn’t as rushed. After an extensive evaluation process to check blood type and more, the transplant is scheduled at a time that matches the donor’s availability and your health needs.
• Superior outcomes. When you receive a living donor liver for transplant, you can expect equal or better outcomes than those who receive a deceased donor organ.

Why Choose AVÑо¿Ëù for Living Donor Liver Transplant

The Living Donor Liver Transplantation Program at AVÑо¿Ëù and NewYork-Presbyterian is home to our expert care team. A few reasons many in and beyond New York City turn to us for liver transplantation services include:

• Compassion. We treat donors, recipients and their loved ones with great care and compassion, walking alongside all involved parties every step of the way.
• Gentle donation process. AVÑо¿Ëù offers one of the few transplant programs performing fully laparoscopic and robotic donor hepatectomies. This removes the donated liver with smaller incisions, leading to reduced donor recovery time.
• Research-based. We’re pioneers in laparoscopic and robotic liver transplantation surgery and continue to research techniques to make liver transplantation surgery safer for the donor and recipient. One approach includes using the left lobe for transplantation, which allows less liver to be removed. This leads to shorter hospitalization, accelerated recovery and improved quality of life for the donor, while providing excellent results for the recipient.
• Volume. We have performed more minimally invasive left-lobe transplants than any facility in North America.

Becoming a Living Liver Donor

The process of becoming a liver donor begins when you contact the Living Donor Liver Transplant Program. Our transplant team will explain the benefits and risks of living donor liver transplants, which provide long-term, life-saving results. They’ll also connect you with patient resources to help increase your knowledge.

Living donors are often relatives or friends, but you don’t have to be related or close to donate part of your liver to another person. You just need to be medically compatible.

Additionally, organ donors must meet the following requirements:

• Age. You must be between 20 and 60 years old to be an organ donor.
• Comprehension. You must understand the risks and benefits of becoming a living liver donor.
• Health. You must be in good overall mental and physical health with no history of liver disease or other chronic diseases.

After donation, the majority of living donors live normal, healthy lives. However, some experience side effects, such as infection or the rare occurrence of organ damage. For recipients, donated livers typically provide years of a healthy, normal life that would otherwise be impossible.

Interested in learning more about the Living Donor Transplantation Program at AVÑо¿Ëù? Call 646-962-GIFT (4438) or complete the .