Transplant

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About Transplant

During transplant surgery, doctors remove an organ or tissue from one person, a donor, and place it into the body of another person, the recipient, to replace damaged or failing organs or tissue.

University Transplant provides programs for:

We also place ventricular assist devices (VAD) into patients with advanced heart failure.

See our Children's Transplant services.

The UMMC Difference

University Transplant, Mississippi’s only transplant program, has a long history of solid organ transplant beginning with the world’s first lung and heart transplants performed by Dr. James D. Hardy in 1963 and 1964.

Our leading edge performance continues today, with successes such as our recent adult split liver transplants (one liver is shared between two recipients) in April 2017 and January 2018. Only a handful of programs across the country have performed this rare treatment.

Learn more about this procedure and the patients who shared a liver.

Shorter wait time for transplant

Our waitlist times for transplant candidates are shorter than national benchmarks. For example, for liver transplants, our average time to transplant is under 90 days for patients with a Model for End Stage Liver Disease (MELD) score greater than 15. We also allow dual listing, meaning you can be on the waiting list at another center and join ours, too.

UMMC success rates

Transplant outcomes at UMMC are included in the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR), which provides official statistics about organ transplant to the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. According to SRTR, for both kidney and liver patients, getting a transplant faster has the largest impact on survival after wait listing. UMMC is better than national averages for both kidney and liver in this critical measure.

Our patients benefit from collaboration among physicians of many different specialties, all providing expertise specific to transplant concerns. This team-based care has resulted in excellent outcomes for our overall program.

Team of experts for transplant surgery

Our team at University Transplant includes experienced transplant surgeons, hepatologists, nephrologists, and advanced heart failure cardiologists, all focused on personalized, family-centered care.

Within each of our transplant programs, we provide a range of procedures. For example, for kidney transplant patients, procedures we offer include:

Recovery and follow up

The team of specialists at University Transplant place a priority on good follow-up care to promote the best possible results. This includes helping our patients maintain their health and enjoy a renewed way of life.

Because recovery includes frequent checkups at our transplant clinics, we offer follow-up care at our main campus in Jackson, and, for kidney transplant patients, at UMMC Grenada and our transplant clinic in Biloxi. This makes recovery after surgery even more convenient for our patients. At our main campus, we also offer a transplant patient support group.

Stem cell, bone marrow and corneal transplants

In addition to our programs for solid organ transplants, the state's only stem cell and bone marrow transplant unit is housed at UMMC. And, sight-saving cornea transplants are available through our ophthalmology program.

About the waitlist at UMMC

For information about our transplant programs and our waiting list, call (601) 984-5065.

Transplant Care at UMMC