Living Donor Transplant Surgery

Living Donor Transplant Team

Our Living Liver Donor Transplant team is led by Dr. Giuliano Testa. Dr. Testa specializes
in living donor liver transplantation for adult patients and is the Surgical Director of Living Donor Liver Transplantation at Baylor University Medical Center. Before joining the Annette C. and Harold C. Simmons Transplant Institute, Dr. Testa was Director of the Living Donor Liver Transplant Program at the University of Illinois and then Director of Liver Transplant and Hepatobiliary Surgery at the University of Chicago. Other members of the Baylor multidisciplinary team for the living liver donor include:

• Surgeon
• Hepatologist
• Physician Advocate
• Living Donor Advocate
• Living Donor Transplant Coordinator
• Social Workers
• Transplant Nurses

Dr. Testa has been performing living donor liver transplants for more than a decade. That experience combined with the expertise of the living liver donor transplant team broadens the Simmons Transplant Institute’s services and offers liver transplant patients hope for better outcomes and improved quality of life.

Living Donor Donation

Guiding Principles

The number of patients waiting for organ transplants far exceed the number of organs donated, which has significantly increased awareness about living donor transplantation. Spouses, friends, and individuals unrelated to the recipient have become living donors. As a result, the World Health Organization
(WHO) adopted guiding principles for living organ donation that state: The donor should be free of any undue influence and pressure and sufficiently informed to be able to understand and weigh the risks, benefits and
consequences of consent. The total benefit to donor and recipient (survival, quality of life, psychological and social well being) must outweigh the risks to the donor and recipient (death, medical, psychological, and social problems).

Who Can Donate?

In order to qualify as a living donor, an individual must be physically fit, in good general health, and free from uncontrolled high blood pressure, diabetes, cancer, liver disease and heart disease. Most donors are usually between 18-60 years of age. Gender and race are not factors in determining a successful match, but donors must have a blood type compatible with the intended recipient.

Benefits of Living Liver Donation

Living donor liver transplantation offers immediate organ availability. It eliminates the uncertainty many organ transplant candidates face as they wait for a suitable organ. Living liver donation is a planned operation which can avoid the progression of the recipient’s disease and its life threatening complications.

Baylor Transplant Services

Living donor liver transplantation is a new option for any person that is presently on the liver transplant waiting list at Baylor University Medical Center at Dallas. Baylor Dallas is one of only two transplant programs in Texas offering Living Donor Transplantation.

Surgeons on the medical staff at Baylor University Medical Center and Baylor All Saints have performed more than 3,500 liver transplants – placing them in an elite handful of surgeons in the United States to reach this milestone. Based upon volume, BUMC and Baylor All Saints are among the top 10 liver
transplant centers in the United States. Dr. Giuliano Testa’s ten plus years experience in Living Donor Liver Transplantation broadens the Simmons Transplant Institute's services and offers our transplant patients
hope for better outcomes and an improved quality of life.

Living Liver Donation Procedure

In living liver donation, individuals donate a portion of their liver. This approach works because the liver has the ability to regenerate itself in both the donor and recipient after transplantation. The size of the portion and specific part of the liver that is donated depends on the needs of the recipient. For instance:

• If patient is donating to an adult of similar or lesser size, the entire left lobe is taken.
• If patient is donating to a larger adult, the right lobe is removed.

The procedure involves an incision in the upper abdomen and typically lasts five to eight hours. The recovery in the hospital averages five days.