Our liver transplant program is one of the world's oldest

The Transplant Center—Living Donor, Liver

University of Minnesota Medical Center offers living donor liver transplant as an option to the majority of children and adults referred to us for a liver transplant. A piece of the liver (one of two lobes, or even a smaller segment) can be taken from an adult living donor and transplanted into a recipient. If the recipient is a child, this is about 25 percent of the donor’s total liver. If the recipient is an adult, usually about 60 percent of the right portion is removed from the donor. The liver is unlike any other organ in our bodies. The portion of a liver taken from a donor will return to almost full size in about one month – in both the donor and the recipient.

The transplant team will consider healthy individuals between the ages of 18 and 55 as donors. Although most donors are relatives, we also consider non-relatives. Almost 50 percent of potential live liver donors do not meet the strict criteria required for such extensive surgery. They may have incompatible blood types, unusual blood vessel formations in the liver that do not easily accommodate splitting the liver or a slight blood abnormalities.