However, for many patients, medical treatment is a temporary solution and transplant is the best option for long term recovery. The Northwestern Memorial Transplant Team will work with you and your family in carefully evaluating all aspects of your situation to determine if transplant is the best option for you. Liver transplantation is complex surgery which will affect all aspects of your life. You and your family are key team members in making the decision about transplant. Because only a human liver can be transplanted, all liver transplants involve a human donor.
Most livers currently used in transplant are from cadaver donors.
Because there are more people needing liver transplants than there are available donor livers, most potential recipients go on national waiting lists. All organs available for transplantation are matched against the waiting lists to find the most compatible recipient. The length of time on a waiting list may range from months to years. In this relatively new procedure, a portion of the liver is taken from a living donor and transplanted into a recipient. As with any transplant, the donor and recipient must have compatible blood and tissues types.