Liver Transplant

Transplant

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Performing more liver transplants than anyone else in North Texas for three years in a row, UT Southwestern Medical Center’s Liver Transplant Program continues to experience unprecedented growth while maintaining exceptional patient outcomes.

Through our transplant network located throughout Texas, we make liver transplantation more accessible for people living in El Paso, Lubbock, and the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Our transplant operations take place at Clements University Hospital, which boasts one of the country’s shortest lengths of stay after surgery.

Highlights of Our Liver Transplant Program

  • UT Southwestern’s experienced liver transplant team uses state-of-the-art techniques and technologies to help patients in need of a liver transplant.
  • Our team performed 104 transplants in 2022, while maintaining the highest one-year survival rate in North Texas.
  • Our integrated, multidisciplinary team of experts works together to provide an unparalleled level of seamless, patient-focused care.
  • Our expertise allows us to treat even the most complex cases and to make liver transplants available to more patients through our living-donor liver program.
  • Working closely with other transplant teams at UT Southwestern, we’re able to perform multi-organ transplants, such as combined heart-liver or lung-liver transplants.
  • We are one of only a few centers to offer combined liver transplant and sleeve gastrectomy for obese patients in need of a liver transplant.
  • Since 1998, UT Southwestern has been the home of the Acute Liver Failure Study Group – led by William Lee, M.D. ­– which gathers important information about the rare disease.
  • We offer an expedited transfer and evaluation process for patients with both acute liver failure and acute-on-chronic liver failure.
  • Convenient satellite clinics in Lubbock, El Paso, and Fort Worth, along with the expanded use of telemedicine, allow us to deliver transplant care for patients throughout Texas, bringing our expertise closer to patients’ homes.
  • Our team members work together to provide ongoing medical management and simplify every step of the process – from support for patients awaiting liver transplants to comprehensive outpatient treatment of transplant recipients.
  • Our joint multidisciplinary clinic with UT Southwestern’s Simmons Cancer Center allows us to provide transplantation for patients with liver cancer who cannot undergo surgical resection.
  • We treat advanced tumors, such as hepatocellular carcinoma, cholangiocarcinoma, and unresectable colorectal metastases to the liver.
  • As an academic medical center, we participate in clinical trials and other leading-edge research. Were currently evaluating new technologies to treat liver disease and transplant patients, and we’re investigating novel ways to increase the number of healthy donor livers.

Before Transplant

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Liver Transplant Surgery

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Life After Transplant

Learn what to expect after surgery and get details about our support services.

'A true lifesaver'

Air Force veteran Rick Nelson's health had been deteriorating for nearly 20 years due to a hereditary liver disease. With time running out, he received a new liver at UT Southwestern, thanks to a close collaboration between the Dallas VA and UTSW, which provides veterans with better access to lifesaving transplants.

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Her nursing boards had to wait: Susan's transplant story

Susan Anigabor’s health deteriorated quickly after being diagnosed with decompensated liver disease and she was referred to our Liver Transplant Program. Susan was about to take her nursing exams when she got the call for transplant. After a successful recovery, she graduated nursing school and is hoping to be able to provide the same care she received at UT Southwestern. 

Complex liver transplant gives Frisco father a new lease on life

Juan Cueto developed liver disease and bile duct cancer, but his life changed dramatically when doctors at UT Southwestern informed him that he was eligible for a liver transplant procedure following a new protocol developed by Dr. Parsia Vagefi and his team.

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Meet Our Liver Transplant Team

UT Southwestern’s Liver Transplant Program is made up of a team of skilled surgeons, hepatologists (liver doctors), intensive care doctors, infectious disease doctors, endocrinologists, imaging experts, nurses, transplant coordinators, social workers, psychologists, dietitians, pharmacists, financial coordinators, and other specialists who work side by side. Our team’s expertise enables us to deliver comprehensive, integrated care that helps patients achieve the best possible outcomes.

Meet Dr. Arjmand Mufti

Arjmand Mufti, M.D., is the Medical Director of Liver Transplantation. He trained in internal medicine at Kings College Hospital in London and at the University of Chicago, where he also received advanced training in gastroenterology and transplant hepatology. Aside from a busy clinical practice, Dr. Mufti collaborates with several of the leading peer-reviewed hepatology journals around the world as an ad-hoc reviewer and as a member of several editorial boards.

Meet Dr. Steven Hanish

Steven I. Hanish, M.D., is the Surgical Director of UTSW’s Liver Transplantation Program. He received surgical training at Duke University School of Medicine and received advanced training in transplant surgery at the University of Wisconsin Hospitals and Clinics. He received additional training in living-donor liver transplantation at Asan Medical Center in Seoul, South Korea. His clinical focus is on expanding the availability of liver transplant – from both living and deceased donors – to patients who weren’t previously eligible.

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Contact Us

Helen Bankston, B.S.N., RN, CCTN
Transplant Intake Coordinator
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