Liver Transplant

Virtua is the only provider of liver transplants in South and Central Jersey. Our highly experienced and compassionate team members provide personalized care throughout your liver transplant journey.

Types of Liver Transplant at Virtua

A liver transplant is a life-changing procedure. It replaces a liver that is no longer functioning properly with a healthy organ from another person.

At Virtua Advanced Transplant & Organ Health, the healthy liver will come from a deceased donor. The individual has registered in advance, or their family has consented, to donate their organs after death for the betterment of others.

If you have end-stage liver and kidney disease, you may benefit from a combined transplant of the two organs. Virtua Advanced Transplant & Organ Health is the only provider in New Jersey of simultaneous liver-kidney transplants, and our team is highly experienced in performing this surgery.

Why Might I Need a Liver Transplant?

About the size of a football and weighing about three pounds, the liver is the largest organ in the body. It is located on the right side of your body, under the ribs.

The liver performs many important jobs, including:

• Removing harmful substances from the blood

• Getting rid of old red blood cells

• Making bile to help digest food

• Metabolizing proteins, carbohydrates, and fats

• Storing sugar and vitamins for the body to use later

• Producing substances to help the blood to clot

If a disease or other condition damages the liver and it stops working properly, you may need a transplant

Conditions Helped By a Liver Transplant

You cannot live without a working liver. Liver transplantation can restore health to people with liver failure caused by:

• Liver cancer
• Hepatitis B and C
• Autoimmune hepatitis
• Cirrhosis, or scarring, of the liver
• Alcoholic fatty liver disease
• Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease
• Metabolic conditions, such as Wilson’s disease
• A sudden loss of liver function, often after an overdose of medicine such as acetaminophen

Liver Transplant at Virtua

At any given time, more than 10,000 people are on the waiting list for a liver transplant. Because more people need a new liver than there are organs available, the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) has developed a system called the Model for End-Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score. 

Your score is first determined during your evaluation. How sick you are plays the largest factor in the score.

We strive to shorten your time on the wait list through progressive organ procurement programs, including:

• Pursuit or donor organs from greater distances
• Safe transplantation of organs from donors with hepatitis C into recipients who do not have the virus through postoperative administration of medication to fight the disease. 

Compassionate, personalized liver care

Throughout your transplant journey, you will be in close contact with your Virtua nurse coordinator.

During your time on the transplant list, you will undergo regular checkups, including blood and liver function tests. We use these tests to update your MELD score, which may affect your place on the waiting list.

Discuss with your coordinator any major changes, including hospitalizations, medications, and insurance coverage updates.

Your nurse coordinator will call you when a donor liver becomes available. It is important that you remain available to receive phone calls and be ready to go to the hospital at all times.

What to Expect During Your Liver Transplant Surgery

During your surgery, an incision is made in the upper abdomen. The diseased liver is removed and the new liver is carefully attached to your circulatory and digestive systems.

The surgery typically takes several hours to complete.

You will remain in the hospital for seven to 10 days as you recover from the surgery. You will begin receiving medication to help your body accept your new organ. You will need to take this medication for life.

What to Expect After Your Liver Transplant Surgery

Your care at Virtua doesn’t end once you’ve received a liver transplant. You are a member of the Virtua family for life.

Following your transplant, your personal care team will include post-transplant nurse coordinators. The post-transplant team will meet with you in the hospital to talk about:

• Taking your daily organ anti-rejection medication, as well as any other prescribed medicines.

• Managing pain and fatigue in the days and weeks following your transplant.

• The importance of staying hydrated.

• Following activity restrictions. Generally, you can resume activities within six to 12 weeks after surgery, but may need longer before returning to work and other normal activities.

• Continuing care with your primary care physician and other specialists.

After leaving the hospital, you will meet with the Virtua transplant team:

• At least weekly in the first month

• Every two weeks in the second month

• Monthly for the remainder of the first year

• Every other month in the second year

• Every three months in the third year

• Every six months after the third year

Depending on your health, you may need more frequent checkups. During these visits, we will assess your health, review blood test results, and make any changes to your medications as needed.

Your nurse coordinator will outline your treatment plan in more detail.