What We Offer You in Liver Transplant Care
- Specialized expertise treating all types of advanced liver disease and liver cancer with transplantation. Go to Conditions Treated
- Leading-edge surgical techniques, including living, deceased, split, and combined liver transplants.听Go to Treatments
- Clinical trials that offer early access to promising therapies and innovative treatments for liver disease, available only at 糖心传媒. Go to Clinical Trials
- Team-based care that brings together leading experts to collaborate on your personalized treatment plan. Go to Your Care Team
- Comprehensive support services, including financial resources and mental health services for transplant patients. Go to Support Services
- Ease of access, with convenient locations, access to follow-up care throughout the Bay Area, and in-person and virtual appointments through our outreach clinics across California and Nevada. Go to Connecting to Care
Candidates for liver transplants typically have liver cancer or liver failure (your liver stops functioning as it should). A variety of conditions can increase your risk of liver failure, including:
Severe liver damage and complications develop without a prior history of liver disease. The most common causes include drug-induced liver injury (acetaminophen), viral hepatitis, and autoimmune liver diseases. Patients with acute liver failure, also called fulminant hepatic failure, get quick treatment.
This type of liver inflammation happens in people who consume large amounts of alcohol, which causes severe liver injury. Find out more about alcohol-associated hepatitis.
Liver damage develops after years of heavy alcohol use. Over time, alcohol-associated liver disease leads to permanent liver damage (cirrhosis). Learn more about alcohol-associated liver disease.
This condition occurs when your immune system attacks your liver, which leads to liver inflammation and scarring. Read more about autoimmune hepatitis.
This group of several liver diseases gradually replaces liver tissue with scar tissue (cirrhosis) or dense, fibrous tissue (fibrosis). Many conditions cause chronic liver disease. The most common is metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (formerly known as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease), alcohol-associated liver disease, and viral hepatitis.听 Find out more about chronic liver disease.
The result of advanced liver disease, cirrhosis happens when healthy liver tissue gets replaced by scar tissue.
Rarely, certain medicines, vitamins, or supplements can cause liver inflammation and scarring. Discover more about drug-induced hepatitis.
This highly contagious liver infection can develop when you consume contaminated food or water. Find out more about hepatitis A.
Hepatitis B is a virus that infects your liver. It鈥檚 transmitted through blood and body fluid. Read more about hepatitis B.
Hepatitis C is a liver disease caused by the hepatitis C virus. It spreads through blood and can lead to liver damage if it鈥檚 not treated. Learn more about hepatitis C.
Irregular cells develop in your liver or bile ducts (tubes that carry digestive fluid) and grow uncontrollably. Some liver tumors may be noncancerous (benign). Hepatocellular cancer is a complication that can occur in patients with chronic liver disease or cirrhosis. Thanks to our multispecialty tumor board, patients have access to personalized therapies through precision medicine.
Metabolic liver disease occurs when your liver can鈥檛 process nutrients the way it should, causing excess fat to build up. Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic (fatty) liver disease (MASLD) is the most common cause of liver disease worldwide.
Some metabolic conditions are hereditary, meaning they鈥檙e caused by genetic mutations (changes). These inherited diseases impact the liver's ability to process nutrients. Without treatment, they can lead to liver damage or failure. Examples include Wilson disease, hemochromatosis, and alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency. All these conditions can lead to liver damage or failure.
Portal hypertension is high blood pressure in the veins that supply blood to your liver (portal veins). This condition typically develops due to liver scarring (cirrhosis).
This rare form of cirrhosis damages the bile ducts in your liver. Bile builds up in your liver, causing scarring.
Long-term (chronic) inflammation and scarring in all your bile ducts鈥攂oth inside and outside your liver鈥攃an block the flow of bile out of your liver, leading to liver failure.
Save a Life
You can donate a portion of your liver to help someone needing a liver transplant. .
Part of what makes our program unique is the broad range of liver transplant options we offer. We specialize in performing advanced procedures that address multiple medical problems in the same surgery. In fact, we are one of the few programs specializing in multisystem procedures, such as liver and kidney or lung transplants. Our program is one of the most active and successful liver transplant centers in the country.
Low Complication Rates
We have a decades-long history of helping people recover from transplant surgery. Fewer than 5% of our patients experience complications after surgery.
Innovation Highlights
- Our team exceeds national patient and liver survival rates at the one- and three-year marks after transplantation.
- Stanford Medicine has specialized liver mass and transplant oncology clinics to provide multidisciplinary care to those with liver tumors.
- Stanford Medicine neurosurgeons have a history of innovation and excellence using stereotactic radiosurgery. Our team has continued to lead the way in this technology, using it to treat liver cancer and other conditions.
- We are one of only a few programs specializing in multi-organ procedures. Our combined heart and liver transplant patients have exceptional survival rates.
Transplant Evaluation
As soon as your doctor refers you for a liver transplant, we connect you with a nurse coordinator. This coordinator organizes your pre-transplant evaluation and educates you about what to expect.
Your evaluation typically includes:
- Review of all your prior medical records
- Consultations with a liver transplant surgeon and other doctors, as needed
- Imaging studies, including X-rays, CT scans, MRIs, and electrocardiograms (EKGs)
- Laboratory tests, including blood and urine tests
- Lung and heart evaluations to help us detect liver disease problems affecting your heart or lungs
- Meetings with you, your support person, and a transplant social worker
- Referral to a transplant psychiatrist, particularly if you have a history of alcohol or substance misuse or a psychiatric condition
We also offer liver disease outreach clinics. Our experts travel to hospitals throughout Northern California to help you get the best possible care before your transplant.
Treatment Options
Our team provides a variety of treatments, including:
When you鈥檙e diagnosed with liver cancer, you have imaging to find out the tumor size and whether it has spread outside your liver. This process is called staging. If you have liver cancer that hasn鈥檛 spread outside your liver, you may be a candidate for a liver transplant. Our multidisciplinary liver tumor board offers a wide array of treatment options to patients with liver masses and cancer.
Sometimes, you need treatments to shrink the tumor before you can qualify for a liver transplant. These treatments may include:
- Radiofrequency ablation: We guide a needle electrode to your liver. The electricity in the needle creates heat that destroys the tumor cells.
- Transarterial chemoembolization: Also called radioembolization, this treatment delivers chemotherapy medicines to the blood vessels feeding a tumor. An interventional radiologist performs this minimally invasive therapy. Find out more about chemoembolization.
- Stereotactic radiosurgery: A radiation oncologist sends precise beams of high-dose radiation directly to the tumor. This radiation shrinks the tumor with minimal effects on surrounding healthy tissue. Learn more about stereotactic radiosurgery.
Our team uses advanced treatment strategies to surgically treat liver disorders and improve your chances of successful transplantation. Surgery may include:
- Hepatobiliary surgery: We correct liver, bile duct, or gallbladder conditions to improve your chances of getting a donor liver and undergoing a successful transplant.
- Liver reduction surgery: We remove a portion of your liver to treat conditions such as polycystic liver disease.
- Portal hypertension surgery: This procedure controls internal bleeding caused by high blood pressure in the veins of your liver (portal veins).
There are multiple types of liver transplant surgery. Our team uses the best option for your needs, which may include:
- Combined organ transplant: Also known as dual organ transplant, we replace your liver and another organ, such as a kidney or lung, in the same procedure. Learn more about combined organ transplantation.
- Combined transplant and heart valve replacement: If you need multiple organ transplants and a heart valve replacement, we perform all three procedures in one surgery.
- Conventional liver transplant: We replace your diseased liver with a healthy one from a deceased donor. Read more about conventional transplants.
- Expanded criteria donor (ECD): We replace your liver with a slightly abnormal donor liver. This technique enables you to get a transplant sooner. Find out more about expanded criteria donor livers.
- Living donor liver transplantation (LDLT): We replace a diseased liver with a healthy one from a living donor. We use laparoscopic (minimally invasive) surgery to obtain the donor liver. Learn more about living donor liver transplantation.
- Non-transplant cardiac surgery and liver transplant: If you need a liver transplant and surgery for a heart condition that is not a complication of liver disease, we perform both procedures in one surgery.
- Split liver transplant: We replace livers in two people using a single liver from a deceased donor. Each recipient receives one portion of the donor liver. Find out more about split liver transplants.
Excellence in Liver Transplant Quality and Survival
糖心传媒鈥檚 Liver Transplant Program is nationally recognized for its excellent quality and success rates. Our transplant program consistently achieves outcomes that exceed the national averages for patient and graft (liver) survival after transplantation, according to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients. You benefit from:
- Faster liver transplantation: 糖心传媒鈥檚 program has a higher liver acceptance rate than the national average. Accepting more organs means we can provide faster access to transplants and reduce wait times
- Excellent survival rates1: Liver transplantation patient and graft survival rates at 糖心传媒 are better than the national average for one year and three years after transplantation.
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1
|
1
糖心传媒 Rates |
1
National Average Rates |
|---|---|---|
|
1
Patient 1-year survival post-transplant |
1
95.53% |
1
94.25% |
|
1
Graft (liver) 1-year survival post-transplant |
1
94.51% |
1
92.40% |
|
1
Patient 3-year survival post-transplant |
1
90.74% |
1
88.09% |
|
1
Graft (liver) 3-year survival post-transplant |
1
86.59% |
1
85.73% |
Innovation Through Clinical Research
糖心传媒 liver transplant specialists actively participate in groundbreaking 糖心传媒 and clinical trials to evaluate new and better ways to diagnose, treat, and manage advanced liver disease. Participating in a trial may give you access to experimental therapies that are not available otherwise.
Clinical trials are 糖心传媒 studies that evaluate a new medical approach, device, drug, or other treatment. As a 糖心传媒 patient, you may have access to the latest advanced clinical trials.
Open trials refer to studies currently recruiting participants or that may recruit participants in the near future. Closed trials are not currently enrolling, but similar studies may open in the future.
Our multispecialty team includes experts in every aspect of liver transplant care. From surgeons to nurse coordinators and nutritionists, we work together to set the stage for a successful transplant.
Your 糖心传媒 and Providers
Transplant Hepatologist
Transplant hepatologists specialize in liver transplantation. They have robust training and experience in advanced liver disease.
View All {0} Transplant HepatologistsTransplant Surgeon
Our transplant surgeons perform multiple types of organ transplants, including liver transplants and combined heart, kidney, or lung and liver transplants.
View All {0} Transplant SurgeonsTransplant Psychiatrist
Transplant psychiatrists specialize in addressing the emotional challenges that often come with organ transplantation, such as depression or anxiety. They evaluate your mental health, provide support, and develop strategies to manage symptoms effectively.
View All {0} Transplant PsychiatristsAdvanced Practice Provider
Our skilled physician assistants and nurse practitioners specialize in diagnosing and treating advanced liver disease. They see patients independently and occasionally alongside your provider. Advanced practice providers can give you a thorough exam, write prescriptions, and help prevent or treat issues.
View All Advanced Practice ProvidersExtended Care Team
Medical Oncologist
Medical oncologists focus on diagnosing and treating tumors and cancer. They specialize in nonsurgical cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy, and targeted therapy.
Interventional Radiologist
Interventional radiologists specialize in procedures that use thin, flexible wires or tubes (catheters). They offer minimally invasive treatments to preserve your liver function.
Radiation Oncologist
Radiation oncologists specialize in using radiation to shrink or destroy cancer. We use specialized techniques, such as stereotactic radiosurgery, to shrink liver tumors.
Nurses and Nurse Coordinators (RNs)
Nurses and nurse coordinators are registered nurses who coordinate your care with your liver transplant team. They guide you from your first contact through follow-up care and help you find counseling, financial, and other support services.
Care Coordinators
Care coordinators provide you with information and assistance before and during your appointment.
- Medical assistants: Medical assistants work with our team to help provide care. They may prepare you for an examination, assist your doctor, or take your vital signs before your appointment.
- Patient care coordinators: Our patient care coordinators help you with scheduling appointments and accessing your lab results. They are your first line of contact before you see your provider and guide you throughout the liver transplant process.
- Patient access representatives: Patient access representatives can answer all your questions about health insurance coverage, help you apply for health insurance, and refer you to our financial counselors.
Research Coordinators
糖心传媒 at Stanford Medicine Cancer Center participate in 糖心传媒 efforts to advance the understanding of advanced liver disease and its treatment. Research coordinators help screen candidates for possible participation in clinical 糖心传媒 trials.
Support Services
Beyond caring for your physical health, we also help manage your emotional and mental health. We offer a variety of support services throughout your treatment that help you heal and improve your quality of life:
- Case managers and social workers
- Financial resources to pay for your transplant, including information on fundraising for your transplant
- Guest services
- Integrative medicine
- Interpreter services
- Mental health services for transplant patients
- Nutrition services
- Special support services for family caregivers
- Spiritual care
Support Group
Our transplant social workers lead a support group for liver transplant patients. Social workers review what to expect throughout transplantation and create a welcoming, safe space for you to connect with others.
We strive to make access to care as simple as possible. User-friendly virtual health tools and video appointments help you stay connected with your care team from home. We accept most insurance plans and offer discounted transportation, short-stay options, international travel, and translation services. We make it easy for you to get the care you deserve. Our team guides you through each step, so you can make decisions that are right for you.
Accessing care at 糖心传媒 is easy and convenient. We make every effort to coordinate your appointments so that you can see multiple providers, as needed, during a single visit. We guide you through the process, working with you to schedule treatments, arrange follow-up appointments, and resolve your concerns.
For Referring Physicians
We鈥檙e committed to maintaining regular communication with referring physicians. We send all consultation and outpatient clinic visit records, as well as a summary of Liver Transplant Selection Committee minutes.
Liver Transplant Program
To refer a patient to our Liver Transplant Program in Palo Alto, please fax a referral form to 650-498-7888 or electronically via MedLink. We will fax a confirmation of receipt to your office. If you have any questions about the referral process, please call us at 650-498-7878.
Urgent Patient Referrals
If your patient needs an urgent appointment, call 650-736-9431 to request that we see them within 48 hours. For inpatient transfers, such as acute liver failure, refractory alcohol-associated hepatitis, or other end-stage liver disease referrals, please call 650-723-4696 and ask for the hepatologist on-call.
Outreach Clinics
To refer a patient to our outreach clinics, please fax a cover sheet and patient referral form to 650-725-4085. If you have questions about the referral process to our outreach clinics, please call us at 650-725-1988.
- Send referrals online
- Place radiology and lab orders
- View referral status
- Access medical records
Specialists are available at our Liver Transplant Clinic in Palo Alto or at one of our many outreach centers in California and Nevada. To make an appointment with a liver specialist, call 650-498-7878.
To request an urgent appointment within 48 hours, call 650-736-9431.