The UC Davis Transplant Center is celebrating the one-year anniversary of completing its first liver transplant on July 25, 2023.

During this first year, the center performed 41 liver transplants — far surpassing its initial year goal of 12-14 transplants. Most impressively, the team had a perfect 100% patient survival rate and a graft survival rate of 100% — well above the national average of 83%  according to the United Network of Organ Sharing (UNOS).

Additional milestones included being certified as a liver transplant program by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). With CMS certification, the program can accept potential liver transplant patients insured by Medicare or Medicaid (also known as Medi-Cal in California). The designation expands access to life-saving liver transplants for patients throughout Northern California.

The program is an important example of the partnership between UC Davis Health and the greater Sacramento community to provide access to complex life-saving care.

To learn more about the success and ongoing efforts of the Liver Transplant Program we spoke to Lea K. Matsuoka, section chief for liver transplantation and hepatobiliary surgery in the Division of Transplant Surgery.

How did the liver transplant program surpass its first-year goal for the number of transplants?

A big reason we were able to surpass our goal of completing 12-14 liver transplants in our first year is that we have such a large population of patients we serve at UC Davis Health. We are the only liver transplant program available in California north of San Francisco and many of our patients want to be closer to home when they undergo a liver transplant.

This demonstrates the huge unmet need for treatment of end stage liver disease and liver transplantation in Northern California. So many patients in need of a lifesaving liver transplant are not able to make it to the Bay Area.

Additionally, we were fortunate to already have a robust and successful kidney transplant program at UC Davis. Having that infrastructure and experience in place greatly contributed to the success of us launching the liver transplant program. Our transplant center director, Sophoclis Alexopoulos, has been the instrumental leader of our transplant team.  

“This demonstrates the huge unmet need for treatment of end stage liver disease and liver transplantation in Northern California. So many patients in need of a lifesaving liver transplant are not able to make it to the Bay Area.”—Lea K. Matsuoka

What outcomes are you most proud of during the first year of the liver transplant program?

I am incredibly proud of the fact that we had a perfect 100% patient survival rate and a graft survival rate of 100 percent. When I say graft survival rate, that means the liver is functioning and working well and the patient does need a new transplant.

This success is due to the amazing work being done by our liver transplant team. We have liver surgeons, hepatologists, liver transplant anesthesiologists, advanced practitioners, transplant coordinators, nurses, financial coordinators, social workers, dietitians, pharmacists, and transplant administrators — who all work tirelessly to provide compassionate and exceptional care to our patients.

Why is it so important for UC Davis Health to offer liver transplants?

When you look geographically, we serve patients in 33 counties encompassing a 65,000-square-mile area north to the Oregon border and east to Nevada. For many of these patients, transportation is difficult and cost-prohibitive to seek medical treatment.

In terms of equity and providing service to patients that live in the more rural areas of Northern California, it is necessary for us provide this service to them.

What research has the liver transplant program conducted during its first year?

We are working on clinical research in the area of alcohol associated liver disease, which affects many of our patients. The reason we're doing this research is to try to continue to improve the outcomes for our patients.

Within this research we are collaborating with the addiction medicine team at UC Davis Health to create a comprehensive program for our patients with alcohol related liver disease to help them both before and after a transplant. We can give patients a new liver, but they still face the same challenges that often accompany addiction. It's important for us to treat the patient comprehensively for their transplant to be successful.

We are also utilizing some of the latest cutting-edge technology in transplant surgery. This includes ex-vivo normothermic machine perfusion, a tool that allows us to “test drive” a donor liver for up to 24 hours outside of the body to ensure that it will work well in the recipient. Additionally, we are working on using machine learning and artificial intelligence to personalize the care of our transplant patients.

What does the future of the UC Davis Health liver transplant program look like?

Moving forward we hope to continue to increase the volume of services we provide our patients. I am excited to share that we have launched a live donor liver transplant program. This is a surgery in which a portion of the liver from a healthy, living person is removed and placed into someone whose liver is no longer working properly.

As the only academic medical center in the region, we are also excited to expand the educational opportunities for our young medical professionals. We recently added our first American Society of Transplant Surgery approved transplant surgery fellow and continue to educate and train our surgery residents on our service.

My expectation is that our program will continue to grow, while also focusing on maintaining our excellent outcomes on patient survival and graft survival rate.