In 2020, only about one in five registrants on the national transplant waiting list received a life-saving transplant. Stanford Health Care transplant specialists are doing their part to provide organ transplantation to as many patients as possible. Our solid organ transplant programs have performed a record number of transplants, topping previous 12-month volumes.

“It was a remarkable year for us,” said Christine Hartley, RN, MS, Administrative Director, Solid Organ Transplant Destination Service Line. “Despite the pandemic, we saw growth in all our solid organ transplant programs. At the same time, we continued our trend of excellent outcomes in graft and patient survival rates.”

A Record-Setting Year

Between September 2020 and August 2021, our surgeons performed 440 transplants, a 25% increase from the previous 12-month record of 352. Heart transplants saw the largest increase, up 43% from the previous record. 

Twelve-month transplant volumes by type were:

• Heart: 97 (previous record was 69)
• Kidney, pancreas, and kidney-pancreas: 170 (previous record was 150)
• Liver and intestine: 104 (previous record was 94)
• Lung and heart-lung: 69 (previous record was 65)

• Heart: We are the fourth-largest adult heart transplant program in the U.S. Our median wait time is only nine days*, and our one-year patient survival rate is 93.6%, compared with the national average of 91.65%**.
• Kidney: We have the lowest risk of mortality in the nation for living donor transplants. Our three-year patient survival rate at 97.57% is better than the national one-year survival rate at 97.16%**.
• Liver: We have the lowest pre-transplant mortality rate (formerly called waitlist mortality rate) among all adult liver transplant programs in California.
• Lung: We perform the most heart-lung transplants of any center in the U.S. (25% of the U.S. total in 2021). Our lung transplant one-year patient survival rate of 92.94% is better than the national one-year survival rate of 89.32%**.

Pioneering Innovation and Research

Our multispecialty teams continually pursue strategies to expand patients’ access to transplantation while making them safer and with improved long-term outcomes. Some of the strategies we utilize include: 

• Detect rejection early: Our work in gene expression profiling and donor-derived cell-free DNA helps us detect early rejection. We are also investigating breath tests for detecting biomarkers in heart transplant rejection and non invasive imaging to identify rejection of kidney transplants. All these technologies are minimally invasive and reduce the need for biopsies to look for graft injury and rejection.
• Expand the pool of organs: We offer patients greater access to transplants by accepting organs from an extended donor pool, including distant donors and organs from older yet healthy donors. An innovative protocol for treating recipients with antiviral therapy even allows us to safely accept certain organs from donors with hepatitis C.
• Identify better matches: Stanford Health Care leads the way in human leukocyte antigen (HLA) typing. We’ve developed next-generation sequencing for HLA typing that helps us better identify potential donor-patient matches, improving transplant success and safety.
• Improve graft success: Our robust clinical research programs are developing novel treatments to improve transplant success. We are investigating monoclonal antibodies and other medications for reducing rejection or organ failure after transplant. We are also testing the use of donor stem cells to reduce or even eliminate the need for immunosuppressive drugs in some kidney transplants.
• Offer transplantation to previously ineligible patients: Our Limited Sobriety Pathway Program offers certain patients with limited sobriety and severe alcohol-related liver disease access to liver transplantation. These patients are given ongoing psychosocial support and close follow-up in order to support their sobriety and ensure the long-term success of their transplant.