University Hospital Center for Advanced Liver Diseases is national leader in 3-year survival rates

University Hospital‘s Center for Advanced Liver Diseases and Transplantation, led by the nationally recognized physicians at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, has been ranked by the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients as the national leader in three-year survival rates for liver transplant programs across the country.

The Newark-based center ranks ahead of a number of other skilled centers that performed at least 10 transplant procedures within a 12-month span that covers survival rates for transplant procedures performed from July 1, 2017, to Dec. 21, 2019.

With an estimated three-year survival rate of 98.72%, the Center for Advanced Liver Diseases and Transplantation was rated as the top center of its kind in the country.

University Hospital edged out its peers at Montefiore Medical Center in New York City and is notably ahead of institutions such as Columbia University Irving Medical Center, the Cleveland Clinic, John Hopkins Hospital and Mount Sinai Health System.

“We are excited to report our outstanding three-year outcomes after liver transplantation. We congratulate every member of our team for their incredible dedication in delivering patient-centered care and innovation to transplant candidates and recipients who face their illness with tremendous courage and strength,” Dr. James Guarrera, professor and chief of transplant and hepatobiliary surgery at NJMS and program director of University Hospital’s Liver Transplant Program, said. “We must also thank all of our organ donors and families for making transplantation possible with their selfless gifts of life.”

The Center for Advanced Liver Diseases and Transplantation at UH, under the guidance of skilled physicians from Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, is the first such center in New Jersey and one of 61 centers nationally. Since it opened in 1989, the center has performed more than 1,650 liver transplant surgeries, including nearly 80 transplants in the last two years alone.

The SRTR, operated by the Chronic Disease Research Group, a division of the Hennepin Healthcare Research Institute, is a federally supported program under contract from the Division of Transplantation, Healthcare Systems Bureau, Health Resources and Services Administration, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

“Having the top liver transplant survival rates in the nation validates our belief that University Hospital is the preeminent academic medical center in New Jersey. It also endorses the Center for Advanced Liver Diseases and Transplantation as another point of pride for the institution,” Ed Jimenez, CEO and president of University Hospital, said. “The SRTR ranking broadens our profile and enhances the awareness of University Hospital, and our partners at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, to the larger world. Lives are literally being saved because of the Center for Advanced Liver Diseases and Transplantation, the leadership of Drs. Guarrera and (Nikolaos) Pyrsopoulos, our dedicated team members and the active support of our partners at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School.”