A 49-year-old patient received the liver from a young female donor and the operation lasted 11 hours. A liver transplant is a procedure indicated for the treatment of advanced, acute and chronic liver diseases, and certain tumour or genetic pathologies that affect the liver. The survival rate of liver transplant patients following transplantation is over 90% at one year and 80% at five years. In 2023, at the Hospital Clínic Barcelona a total of 180 candidates were assessed and 80 liver transplants were carried out, seven of which were combined kidney and liver transplants.
The Hospital Clínic Barcelona’s Liver Transplant Programme, led by Dr. Jordi Colmenero, hepatologist, and Dr. Yliam Fundora, liver transplant surgeon, is a innovative project of excellence both in Spain and in the rest of Europe in liver transplantation care, teaching and research. The programme brings together a multidisciplinary team made up of doctors and surgical professionals, nursing and administrative staff, and involves the participation of patient associations that seek to achieve better survival and quality of life for patients.
The Hospital Clínic Barcelona is a leading centre in terms of activity and survival rates in adult liver transplantation in Catalonia, and is a referral centre for highly complex patients. One of the pillars of its care is innovation, which allows it to offer new organ preservation techniques, new treatments, strategies and technologies for improving care. The Programme has ISO 9001 and ISO-UNE-179008 Quality Management certification for Liver Transplant Units. Since 2022, it has also formed part of the European Reference Networks for rare diseases, ERN-RARE LIVER (Polycystic Liver Disease, Vascular Liver Diseases, Liver Cancer). Research and teaching in liver transplantation constitute an essential part of the day-to-day work and the activity is carried out at the IDIBAPS Research Institute and the University of Barcelona.
