The liver is a large organ on the right side of the abdomen that filters toxins, metabolizes drugs, exports proteins and products out of the blood and helps the body filter nutrients. When the liver stops functioning properly, serious health problems result.

Those with serious liver disease can receive treatment to slow their condition's progression and keep them relatively healthy. Unfortunately despite best care and lifestyle changes, like stopping alcohol or reducing one’s weight, liver failure still occurs leading to a need for a transplant evaluation, potential listing and if listed a liver transplant. Unlike those who suffer from kidney disease, patients with End Stage Liver Disease (E.S.L.D.) don’t have a dialysis option and the only way to help them is through transplantation. What one needs, if they have ESLD or liver cancer, is an assessment with people who are trained to identify if you are a liver transplant candidate or, how to make you a candidate for a transplant if you are quite ready yet.

Since the first successful liver transplants in the 1960s a lot has changed with one year survival moving from being around 50% to 87% in the year 2000 and now post-transplant survival often exceeds 95%, meaning less than 5% of people receiving a liver transplant die in the first year and that vast majority are alive to enjoy a near normal quality-of-life with the occasional blood test, a couple of addition medications,  and a clinic visit once a year when they get to 2 years post-transplant.  New immunosuppression, novel surgical techniques, and our better understanding of how to manage people before and after liver transplantation led to the improvements we have seen over the last 50 years. The Intermountain Transplant Center consistently achieves patient and graft survival rates above the national average, with waiting times two or more months shorter than the rest of the national.