News & Events: End-stage Liver Disease (ESLD)

UCSF News reports on the research of the Willenbring Lab and others demonstrating in mice that healthy new liver cells could be generated within the organ itself, thus making engraftment unnecessary. The article noted that the very cells that drive liver disease were converted, thereby reducing liver damage and improving liver function simultaneously. The study was recently reported on in a paper published by the journal Cell Stem Cell.  Advances in stem cell research have made it possible to convert patients' skin cells into heart cells, kidney cells, liver cells and more in the lab dish, [...]

The St. Helena Star tells the story of a daughter who donated a portion of her liver to save her mother's life, part of a living donor liver transplant procedure performed by transplant surgeons at UCSF Medical Center. Kimberly St. Clair-Davis calls donating a portion of her liver to her mother, Sandy Zablosky, a "miraculous opportunity." The miraculous part to St. Clair-Davis is a scenario that defies strict mathematics. Zablosky can have her entire liver removed, St. Clair-Davis can donate 40 percent of her own liver to Zablosky and both women can be made whole. That 40 percent will [...]

A new video on AASLD TV (American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases) features the UCSF Liver Transplant Program and faculty John P. Roberts, M.D., Norah A. Terrault, M.D., M.P.H. and Francis Y.K. Yao, M.D. As a leader in the treatment of liver disease and transplantation, UCSF has performed more than 2,500 liver transplants in both children and adults, many in their growing living donor liver transplantation program. The UCSF team is also  researching cures for hepatitis as well as ways to help transplant recipients reduce their need for lifelong medication.

UCSF News reports on a study that found that the vast majoirty of liver transplant candidates who died or were delisted from the transplant list had previously received one or more liver donation offers:  Most liver transplant candidates who died or were removed from the transplant list actually received one or more liver donation offers, according to a recent UCSF study. "What we found challenges the simplistic view that transplant dynamics are driven simply by organ availability," said lead author, Jennifer Lai, MD, (pictured right top) assistant clinical professor in the UCSF Division [...]