M Health Fairview teams perform a record-breaking 139 liver transplants in 2023
In 2023, M Health Fairview celebrated a milestone: the health system’s renowned hepatology and transplant teams performed 139 liver transplants in a single year, breaking its previous record of 116, set in 2021.
Although liver transplant totals are increasing nationwide, M Health Fairview’s increase has exceeded the national rate. Our talented teams are at the leading edge of what is possible in liver transplantation – all while maintaining outstanding outcomes for patients. It’s no surprise, considering the legacy and strength of M Health Fairview’s transplant center. Over nearly 60 years, our center has conducted more than 13,000 organ transplants of all types, including many first-in-the-world and first-in-the-nation breakthroughs.
“Our program has the best transplant outcomes in the Midwest, including all of Minnesota and the surrounding states,” said Julie Thompson, MD, MPH, transplant hepatologist, medical director of M Health Fairview’s adult liver transplantation program, and associate professor at University of Minnesota Medical School. “We are proud that our program is among the top 10 percent in the nation.”
M Health Fairview’s one-year survival rates for liver transplantation have earned 5/5 ranking from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients, an independent, third-party organization that collects volume and outcomes data on transplant programs nationwide. A Tier 1 program (1/5) has an average one-year survival rate of 86 percent, while an average Tier 5 (5/5) program’s one-year survival rate is 96 percent. With an average one-year survival rate that exceeds 98 percent, M Health Fairview’s outcomes are even better than the average top-tier program.
“This is the result of a 10-year effort,” said Srinath Chinnakotla, MD, transplant surgeon, surgical director of liver transplantation, and a professor at University of Minnesota Medical School. “It is the result of strong teamwork and a proven process that works. It begins with detailed evaluation and multidisciplinary discussion, so we choose the right patient, and it continues with our expertise during and after surgery, with professionals across our surgical ICU, critical care, pathology, anesthesiology, infectious disease, and cardiology teams who have developed particular expertise in transplant.”
M Health Fairview has a team of six surgeons who perform liver transplants:
As well as six transplant hepatologists:
