Liver Transplant Section

Dr. Anthony Passannante coordinates Anesthesiology for Liver Transplantation. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill has a well-known Liver Transplantation Program. The patient population includes adults and children, and both cadaveric and living-donor transplants are performed. UNC is one of nine institutions enrolled in an ongoing NIH sponsored study examining outcomes in cadaveric versus living-donor transplant operations. We have five accomplished surgeons and excellent transplant hepatology resources available.

The Anesthesiology Department has been actively involved in the program since its inception in 1991, and  all adult transplant patients are cared for by Dr. Passannante, Dr. Ravindra Prasad, Dr. Sunil Dogra, or Dr. William Furman. Resident physicians and nurse anesthetists assist in all cases. When children under 20 kg in weight undergo liver transplantation, the attending Anesthesiologist will be one of our experienced Pediatric Anesthesiologists. Liver transplantation poses many anesthetic challenges, and the patients that we care for bring a very wide variety of coexisting illness to the operating room with them. Despite the acutely ill status of many of our patients, our program has a 1-year survival rate of 90%, which is excellent. Since 1991, we have performed 700 liver transplant procedures, and we look forward to continuing this tradition of excellence.