Liver transplant in Wisconsin

Aurora Health Care provides comprehensive liver disease management, liver transplant surgery and hepatobiliary surgery for patients across Wisconsin and the region. Our experienced transplant team offers advanced surgical options, lifelong care and personalized support close to home.

Why choose Aurora Health Care for a liver transplant in Wisconsin?

• People from all over the region come to Advocate St. Luke’s Hospital because of our reputation for excellence.
• We’ve performed more than 570 liver transplants since 1998.
• All our transplant surgeons are board-certified in their field of medicine and have advanced training, plus extensive experience in transplantation.
• Our transplant program is accredited by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN) and the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).

We provide lifelong support for liver transplant recipients.

• Continuing care to help you live your best life.
• Support groups offer a chance to meet other transplant patients and their families to share personal experiences about both preparing for a transplant and recovering from one.
• Counseling from staff members who have experience with the transplant journey.
• Temporary housing accommodation for patients travelling from long distance

What is a liver transplant?

During a liver transplant, doctors remove a person’s diseased or damaged liver and replace it with a healthy liver from a donor. The new liver needs to be about the same size as the liver that was removed. It also needs to be from someone who has a compatible blood type.

The person who receives the transplanted liver needs to take medication for the rest of their life to prevent their body from rejecting the liver. They also need regular checkups and blood tests to see how their body is adjusting. Medication dosages may change depending on how their body responds to the new liver.

Conditions treated with liver transplant surgery

Many conditions that cause acute or chronic liver failure may require a liver transplant. The most common conditions that lead to needing a liver transplant are fatty liver disease from consumption of alcohol or longstanding overweight which led to liver cirrhosis. Other conditions that damage the liver enough to lead to a liver transplant are:

• Hepatitis B or Hepatitis C which have led to liver cirrhosis
• Liver cancer in combination with liver cirrhosis
• Selected cases of bile duct cancer 
• Congenital errors of metabolism
• Complications from some medications
• Selected cases of metastatic cancer to the liver

Liver transplants are typically recommended when the benefits of the procedure outweigh the risks of not receiving a liver transplant, after thorough evaluation of the situation of patients.

Get a second opinion about liver transplant surgery

We offer second opinions about liver transplants. We’ll examine your records from another provider and let you know what we recommend. We want you to feel as confident as possible with the decisions you make about your care.