Liver Transplant Program and Comprehensive Liver Service

Liver transplant recipients Tricia Satkowski and her father, Robert

The UAMS Multi-Organ Transplant Program provides a full range of services for patients in need of heart, liver, kidney, pancreas, or combined kidney and pancreas transplantation. The consolidation and centralization of all transplant services into one organizational structure provides an enhanced approach to transplant surgery. By teaming expert surgical staff with a comprehensive group of multi-disciplinary transplant physicians and numerous other support specialists, we offer our transplant patients and their families the finest in transplant care.

We can help

The UAMS Comprehensive Liver Service team diagnoses and treats patients of all
ages for conditions including:
• Chronic end-state liver disease (ESLD)
• Acute liver failure (fulminant liver failure)
• Primary liver cancer
• Liver-colorectal carcinoma
• Biliary abnormalities
• Biliary injuries from trauma
• Malignant and benign liver masses

Dr. Youmin Wu and his team carefully evaluate each patient to determine the best treatment or combination of therapies. Our services include:
• Liver transplant, either from a living relative or from a donor through an organ recovery service
• Treatments for liver tumors, including liver resection, chemoemobilization, chemotherapy, radiofrequency ablation, radiation therapy and ethanol injection


A History of Success

Today, a liver transplant patient has an outstanding chance of recovering and ontinuing to lead a rich, full life. Dr. Wu’s pioneering discovery of a transplant technique called cavaplasty promotes faster healing. Using cavaplasty, Dr. Wu’s one-year survival rate among adult patients is 94 percent, compared to the national average of 87 percent for adult liver transplant patients. In pediatric patients, Dr. Wu’s survival rate is 100 percent, compared to the national average of 89 percent.

Help for Patients with Liver Disease – Right Here at Home

Arkansans with end-stage liver disease, liver cancer or other liver conditions no longer must travel out of state for the extensive care they need before, during and after a liver transplant or other treatment. The world-class care available at UAMS can make it a lot less stressful for the patient and family and help speed the healing process.

Under the leadership of Wu, a highly skilled and internationally recognized surgeon, UAMS offers the only comprehensive liver service in Arkansas. As director of the UAMS Multi-Organ Transplant Program, Wu heads a team of over 25 dedicated surgeons, hepatologists, oncologists, anesthesiologists, intensivists, nurses, patient coordinators and many other specialists. Together, they ensure that every patient receives the finest care available anywhere.

UNOS Certified

The UAMS Liver Transplant Program is certified by the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), the nonprofit scientific and education organization that administers the nation’s organ procurement and transplantation network. The Arkansas Regional Organ Recovery Agency (ARORA) serves the UAMS Liver Transplant Program.