How Living Donor Liver Transplant Works

Traditionally, a liver used for transplant came from a deceased donor. Now, a handful of hospitals in the United States have the ability to do what’s called a “living donor” liver transplant. It’s a very complex procedure where a piece of the donor’s liver is put into the recipient. After a short time, the segments in the donor and the recipient naturally increase in size and serve as two functional livers. It is a way to provide patients with a liver before they get really sick. To learn more about this procedure, we asked Dr. Robin Kim, executive medical director of transplants at University of Utah Healthcare, about how it’s done, what makes it complicated and how safe it is for the donor.