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Patients Benefit from Multidisciplinary Liver Transplant Program

Join an audience of surgeon-colleagues
in an interactive panel discussion at the Weiler Auditorium.

"Our patient-focused approach provides for all the relevant medical specialists collaborating under one roof to insure the best possible transplant outcome," says Dr. Amy Lu, Director of Kidney Transplantation, Montefiore Medical Center. On Nov. 16 at 7:00pm Dr. Lu participated in an OR Live webcast of a liver transplant she performed on an older male suffering from Hepatitis. "Once a liver becomes available, we proceed with the diseased liver removal as well as part of the vena cava. We then implant the new liver, profuse it and then attach the hepatic artery and the bile ducts. This all must be performed in a timely manner. Long term, the patient will have to take anti-rejection drugs but can otherwise look forward to a healthy, normal life. We refer to the liver as an ageless organ that will function for the life of the patient." The webcast was moderated by Milan Kinkhabwala, MD, Chief of Transplantation, Department of Surgery, Montefiore Medical Center and Professor of Surgery, Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Part of the transplant process involves counseling to make sure the patient is prepared for the process." We go through several protocols to make sure a patient is ready for a transplant, but even so, when that phone rings, it can be quite a shock. We want to be sure our patients are absolutely ready from both a physical and psychological perspective, including having a viable support system," says Dr. Lu.

The entire staff of Montefiore joins Dr. Lu in encouraging everyone to consider organ donation. "Last year, in the United States, we performed over 28,000 transplants, but there are over 100,000 people on the waiting list. Eighteen people a day die waiting for a an organ, so as Dr. Dan Goldberg would say -"'Don't take your organs to heaven.'"