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Mayo's Liver Transplant Program
Ranked Nation's Largest

The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) has named the liver transplant program at Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville the nation's largest in terms of numbers of transplants performed. The OPTN's latest report shows Mayo surgeons performed 245 liver transplants in Jacksonville in 2004. The nation's second largest liver transplant program performed 243. Overall, the programs at all three Mayo Clinic sites did a total of 395 liver transplants last year.

Patients with chronic, progressive liver diseases such as hepatitis are candidates for liver transplantation when other medical or surgical treatments fail or are not options. Mayo Clinic often sees seriously ill patients, some with complex medical issues who have been referred by other transplant centers that deem them too ill or risky to transplant.

"We've assembled a team of highly skilled physicians, surgeons and allied health care professionals who are committed to providing care to the patients who can benefit the most from our services," says Dr. Jeffery Steers, surgical director of the Mayo Jacksonville liver transplant program. "For those deemed unsuitable for transplant elsewhere, we exhaust our knowledge and skill to determine if there is a way we can get them the transplant they need."

For example, Mayo surgeons perform liver transplants on patients with cholangiocarcinoma (cancer of the bile ducts), which many centers consider a contraindication to transplant. Some of these patients may be transplanted after undergoing preoperative chemotherapy and radiation.

Because of high patient volume, the transplant team has been able to analyze a large amount of data to improve outcomes. For example, the team discovered that patients with hepatitis C have a greater chance of recurrence of their disease when they receive donor livers from people more than 60 years old.

The Mayo transplant programs also have one of the highest patient survival rates in the country.

Info:
Transplant Center
(904) 296-9074

Read the news release from March 31, 2005.

Learn more about the Department of Transplantation at Mayo Clinic Jacksonville.

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