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

The Transplant Center—Pediatric Liver Transplant

Liver transplant was introduced at the University of Minnesota in 1964. Since then, University of Minnesota Physicians has performed more than 700 liver transplants—250 of these on infants and children. Many of the liver transplants are done in combination with other organ transplants to treat rare diseases. Several combined liver-and-kidney transplants have been performed since 1981 when University physicians performed the first transplant of this kind. Surgeons in 1997 began performing adult-to-child, living-related-donor segmental-liver transplants. Use of living donors and procedures in which segments of a single liver are transplanted into two recipients have earned the program a reputation of leadership in the field.

Liver Transplant for Infants and Children

In cooperation with Fairview-University Children’s Hospital, physicians and other clinicians are proud of their reputation for innovation and advanced technology performing liver transplants for infants and children.

In 1982, at what was then the University of Minnesota Hospital, 11-month-old liver transplant patient Jamie Fisk captured national attention while awaiting a donor. Jamie has since gone on to become the world’s longest-living pediatric liver recipient.

In addition, the effort to locate a donor for Fisk helped pave the way for groundbreaking national legislation that, ultimately, created the national Organ Procurement and Transplant Network (OPTN). Her search led President Ronald Reagan to appoint William Payne, M.D., (see bio) now surgical director of the liver transplant program, to a national task force that resulted in passage of the National Organ Transplant Act of 1984. This act established the OPTN, which makes policy for organ distribution.

United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) maintains organ transplant waiting lists in the U.S. William Payne, M.D. has served as a past president of UNOS.

Facts about the Liver Transplant Program

• one of the oldest liver transplant programs in the world
• living donor transplants performed in both pediatric and adult recipients
• smallest liver transplant recipient weighed 6kg at transplant
• first liver transplant in Minnesota — 1964
• first liver/kidney transplant in Minnesota — 1980
• first liver/pancreas transplant in Minnesota — 1990
• first liver/intestinal transplant in Minnesota — 1996
• first living-donor liver transplant in Minnesota — 1996