Liver Transplant

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Liver transplant specialists at UT Southwestern have performed the most liver transplantations in North Texas for five years in a row, and our Liver Transplant Program continues to experience unprecedented growth while maintaining exceptional patient outcomes.

Doctor explaining liver condition using ultrasound images and 3D liver model to young patient in medical consultation room

What Conditions Does Liver Transplant Surgery Treat?

Liver transplant surgery may be used when the liver is failing or when certain liver cancers can’t be treated another way. Common conditions include:

Acute liver failure: The liver stops working suddenly, often over days or weeks. This can become life-threatening very quickly.
Chronic liver failure from cirrhosis: Long-term liver damage can cause severe scarring, called cirrhosis, that slowly keeps the liver from working properly.
Primary liver cancer: Some patients with cancers that start in the liver, such as hepatocellular carcinoma or cholangiocarcinoma, may be candidates for transplant.
Advanced fatty liver disease: Also called MASLD or MASH, this condition can cause serious liver damage over time. A transplant may be needed if it leads to cirrhosis or liver failure.

What Are the Types of Liver Transplant Surgery?

Liver transplant surgery can use a liver from a deceased donor or a living donor. In both cases, the surgeon removes the diseased liver and replaces it with healthy liver tissue. The best option depends on the patient’s condition, body size, and donor availability.

Deceased Donor Transplantation

In a deceased donor transplant, the liver comes from an organ donor who died. This is the most common type of liver transplant, and for many patients, it offers the best chance of survival.

Some patients receive a whole liver, while others receive part of a donor liver. Because the liver can regrow, both options can provide effective treatment. The approach depends on body size and clinical needs.

Patients must first be approved for transplant before being placed on the national waitlist. Factors such as blood type, body size, location, and medical urgency help determine donor matching. Learn more about liver transplant approval and the waitlist.

Living Donor Liver Transplantation

In a living donor transplant, a healthy person donates part of their liver. That portion is transplanted into the recipient, where it can regrow after surgery.

Because there are not enough deceased donor livers for every patient who needs one, a living donor transplant may shorten the wait for surgery. This can be important when liver disease is advancing.

Living donor transplant is not right for every patient. Our transplant team decides whether it is a safe option.

Learn about the Living-Donor Liver Program at UT Southwestern.

Interested in Becoming a Living Donor?

Take the first step and complete our confidential living-donor transplant questionnaire.

Learn more

Why Choose UT Southwestern for Liver Transplant Surgery?

Through our transplant satellite clinics in Texas, we make liver transplantation more accessible for people by delivering most of their transplant care closer to home. Our transplant operations take place at William P. Clements Jr. University Hospital in Dallas and are performed by our expert team, which produces some of the best results in the country along with one of the shortest lengths of stay after surgery.

ELITE Status

UT Southwestern Transplant Programs have earned ELITE status from Interlink Center of Excellence (COE) Networks & Programs, which ranks transplant programs nationwide using a rigorous credentialing standard. UTSW's Interlink Performance Score far exceeds the national average and demonstrates superior results across a variety of measures, including patient outcomes, accessibility, and pre- and post-transplant care.

Highlights of UT Southwestern’s Liver Transplant Program

UT Southwestern’s experienced liver transplant team uses leading-edge techniques and technologies.
Our team performs more than 100 liver transplants a year while maintaining the highest one-year survival rate in North Texas, making it the largest and highest-quality program in the region.
Our integrated, multidisciplinary team of experts works together to provide an unparalleled level of seamless, patient-focused care.
Our expertise allows us to treat the most complex cases and make liver transplants available to more patients through our Living-Donor Liver Program and Partial-Graft (i.e., split liver) Transplant Program.
Our joint multidisciplinary clinic with UT Southwestern’s Harold C. Simmons Comprehensive Cancer Center allows us to provide transplantation for patients with liver cancer who cannot undergo surgical resection.
We are able to treat advanced tumors, such as hepatocellular carcinoma, cholangiocarcinoma, neuroendocrine tumors, and unresectable colorectal metastases to the liver, using liver transplantation.
Working closely with other transplant teams at UT Southwestern, we’re able to perform multi-organ transplants, such as combined liver-kidney, heart-liver, or lung-liver transplants.
We are one of only a few centers to offer combined liver transplant and sleeve gastrectomy for obese patients in need of a liver transplant.
We offer an expedited transfer and evaluation process for patients with both acute liver failure and acute-on-chronic liver failure.
Convenient satellite clinics in Lubbock, El Paso, and Fort Worth, along with our expanded use of telemedicine, allow us to deliver transplant care for patients throughout Texas, bringing UT Southwestern expertise closer to patients’ homes.
Our team members work together to provide ongoing medical care and to simplify every step of the process – from support for patients awaiting liver transplants to comprehensive outpatient management for transplant recipients.
As an academic medical center, we participate in clinical trials and other highly advanced research. We’re currently evaluating new technologies to treat patients with liver disease, including those requiring liver transplantation, and we’re investigating novel ways to increase the number of donor livers available for transplant.

What Should Patients Expect from Liver Transplantation?

Before Liver Transplant Surgery

Learn about the evaluation and waitlist process.

During Liver Transplant Surgery

Find out what happens during surgery at Clements University Hospital.

After Liver Transplant Surgery

Learn what to expect after surgery and watch patient stories about life after a liver transplant.

What Liver Transplant Innovations Does UT Southwestern Provide?

UT Southwestern is shaping the future of liver transplant care through highly specialized procedures and the development of new technologies.

Split liver transplantation: UT Southwestern and Children’s Health are the only health systems in North Texas offering this highly specialized procedure. In a split liver transplant, one deceased donor liver is divided so that two patients can receive transplants. This approach can expand the donor pool and may help reduce wait times, especially for children.
Artificial liver research and development: UT Southwestern is leading research to create functioning artificial livers using a patient’s own cells and 3D printing technology. This work is supported by an ARPA-H award of up to $25 million. If successful, this research could help address the shortage of donor livers and may reduce the need for lifelong immunosuppression.

What Clinical Trials Are Available for Liver Transplant Patients?

UT Southwestern conducts clinical trials to advance transplant care, including studies that may benefit patients with liver disease and liver transplantation needs. Patients may have opportunities to participate in research depending on their diagnosis, treatment plan, and eligibility.

See current clinical trials.

Meet Our Liver Transplant Team

UT Southwestern’s Liver Transplant team is made up of skilled surgeons, hepatologists (liver doctors), intensive care doctors, anesthesiologists, infectious disease doctors, endocrinologists, imaging experts, nurses, transplant coordinators, social workers, psychologists, dietitians, pharmacists, nutritionists, physical and occupational therapists, financial coordinators, and other specialists who work side by side. Our team’s expertise enables us to deliver comprehensive, integrated care that helps patients achieve the best possible outcomes.

Meet Arjmand Mufti, M.D.

Dr. Mufti is the Medical Director of Liver Transplantation at UT Southwestern. He trained in internal medicine at Kings College Hospital in London and at the University of Chicago, where he also received advanced training in gastroenterology and transplant hepatology. Aside from maintaining a busy clinical practice, Dr. Mufti contributes to several of the leading peer-reviewed hepatology journals around the world as an ad-hoc reviewer and as a member of several editorial boards.

Learn more

Meet Madhukar Patel, M.D., M.B.A., Sc.M.

Dr. Patel is the Surgical Director of Liver Transplantation. He completed his general surgery residency at Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by advanced fellowship training in abdominal transplant and hepato-pancreato-biliary surgery at the University of Toronto. He earned his medical degree from the University of California, Irvine (UCI), and holds additional master’s degrees in biomedical engineering from Brown University and business administration from UCI.

Learn more

Related Conditions and Treatments

Transplant

Comprehensive, World-Renowned Transplant Care

UT Southwestern provides the highest-quality care and helps restore patients to full and productive lives. Our transplantation teams are there for patients, from initial evaluation through the life of the organ