Stanford Health Care is a national and world leader in solid organ transplants. Our physicians performed the first adult heart transplant in the U.S. and the first heart-lung transplant in the world. Since those early achievements, our solid organ transplant programs continue to excel in transplant care. Recent data from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR)* reveals another year of exceptional patient outcomes and volumes.

“Our hard work and commitment to quality is reflected in the care we offer,” said Christine Hartley, RN, MS, Administrative Director, Solid Organ Transplant Destination Service Line. “Our multispecialty teams provide the highest level of care, from careful comprehensive pre-transplant monitoring to post-surgical immunosuppression management and long-term follow-up care. Despite the challenges of the past few years, we have continued to provide lifesaving transplants with distinction.”

Leading the Field in Volumes and Outcomes

Between January 2022 and December 2022, our surgeons performed 436 total organ transplants.** This number includes the most heart-lung transplants (11) of any center.

Our programs also showed a sustained trend of outstanding post-transplant patient survival. Highlights from the January 2023 SRTR Program-Specific Reports include:

• Heart: Getting a transplant faster has the highest impact on survival post heart transplantation. Based on the SRTR's 5-tier outcome assessment methodology, Stanford Health Care nears the top of the list compared to 147 heart transplant centers in the U.S. for adult patients. Our high organ acceptance ratio makes more transplants possible and the ability to transplant faster. The one-year patient survival rate is 94.38%, exceeding the national average of 91.28%.
• Kidney and kidney-pancreas: The Kidney and Pancreas Transplant Program achieves superior results for patients who have renal failure with or without Type 1 diabetes. Our kidney transplant one-year patient survival rate is 98.08%, which is higher than the national average of 95.89%. For kidney-pancreas transplants, our 100% one-year survival rate far exceeds the national average of 96.92%.
• Liver: The Liver Transplant Program has a legacy of excellent results with a one-year survival rate of 93.68%, which surpasses the expected rate of 92.88%. Our program also features a lower pre-transplant mortality rate for adult candidates than the national average (8.3 vs. 12.8 per 100 years of waiting, respectively).
• Lung and heart-lung: As a high-volume program that specializes in high-risk candidates, the Lung Transplant Program is a leader in successful outcomes. Stanford Health Care’s one-year patient survival rate for lung transplants is 94.39%, compared to the national average of 88.43%. Our one-year survival rate for heart-lung transplants of 89.3% also exceeds the national rate of 83.7%.

Stanford Health Care’s transplant programs also accept high complexity patients for multi-organ transplantation. We perform combinations of surgeries not performed in other hospitals in Northern California. According to the January 2023 SRTR report, between July 2019 and December 2021, our multi-organ health transplants included:

• 23 heart-lung
• 14 heart-kidney
• 12 kidney-liver
• 6 heart-liver
• 2 lung-kidney
• 1 heart-liver-kidney
• 1 lung-liver
• 1 pancreas-liver-intestine

Pioneering Innovation in Solid Organ Transplantation

Our multispecialty teams continually pursue strategies to expand patients’ access to transplantation, while also improving safety and long-term outcomes. We work to:

• 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 noninvasive imaging to identify rejection of kidney transplants. 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, but healthy donors. An innovative protocol for treating recipients with antiviral therapy now allows us to safely accept most 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 outcomes and safety.
• Improve graft success: Our robust clinical research programs are developing novel treatments such as monoclonal antibodies and other medications for reducing rejection and 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 long-term transplant success.

Stanford Health Care provides comprehensive services to refer and track patients, as well as the latest information and news for physicians and office staff. For more information about the Stanford Health Care Transplant Program, visit our website.

*SRTR report, accessed January 22, 2023.

**Organ Procurement & Transplantation Network, accessed February 22, 2023

Image courtesy of Winston L. Trope.