Transplant Anesthesia Division

UR Medicine Transplant Team hard at work during a liver transplant.

The University of Rochester is a leading center for solid organ transplantation nationally. Due to the complexity of the procedure and severity of illness of the patients, the Department of Anesthesiology has a division dedicated to delivering anesthesia for liver transplantation. This group provides anesthesia for all liver transplants and for a majority of the kidney transplants, kidney-pancreas transplants, and hepatobiliary surgery performed by the transplant surgery service. All anesthesia faculty have either basic or advanced certification in transesophageal echocardiography.  There is a close collaboration between the transplant anesthesiologists and transplant surgeons.

All patient candidates for liver transplant are cleared for surgery by the anesthesiology team prior to being listed for transplant. Anesthesiology residents are assigned to 2 week long liver transplant rotations. During a liver transplant, there is one-on-one attending supervision of the resident. Teaching opportunities are broad but focus on the pathophysiology of liver disease, hemodynamic monitoring, coagulopathy, liver failure comorbidities (hepatorenal syndrome, hepatopulmonary syndrome, etc.), and the anesthetic management of these cases.