The Transplantation Surgery Section has particular expertise in the transplantation of liver, pancreas and kidney, and in complex surgical procedures involving the liver and pancreas. The surgeons work with a team of medical and pediatric physicians and with nurse specialists to provide careful patient evaluation, education, counseling, and postoperative treatment. The kidney transplant program, established in 1968, has performed more kidney transplants than any program in the Chicago area.
Success rates are also the highest of any kidney transplant program in the area.
The University of Chicago Hospitals kidney transplant program is one of only eight programs in the United States evaluating new immunosuppressive medicines in the National Institutes of Health Cooperative Clinical Trial. The liver transplant program is the largest in the Midwest, having performed more liver transplants than any other program since its establishment in 1984. It is currently the most active pediatric liver transplant program in the country, having pioneered the use of segmental living donor liver transplants in children. These have a far better success rate than full-size cadaver donor transplants in this population. Currently, the living donor segmental liver transplant program is being expanded to adults.