News

The liver is an extraordinary organ; its ability to regenerate makes living liver transplants possible. But in a country where 15 percent of people who need a liver transplant will die waiting for one, living liver transplants still only make up 5-7 percent of transplants. Dr. Emond, head of transplantation and pioneer in living liver surgery, urges a culture shift.

Liver donation is a gift of life. For irreversible liver diseases—like cirrhosis and hepatitis, but also congenital diseases present at birth—liver donation can be life-saving. While the results of liver transplantation can be miraculous and curative, equally astonishing is that successful transplantation can occur using just a portion of the donor liver.

The Department of Surgery at Columbia University Irving Medical Center (CUIMC) is very pleased to announce a gift to create the Newmyer Family Fellowship for Innovation in Surgery, with gratitude to donor Arthur G. (“Terry”) Newmyer III.

The Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation at NYP/Columbia is making noteworthy progress in the treatment of hepatocellular cancer (HCC) and cholangiocarcinoma (CCA), cancer of the bile duct, and is the national leader in this field.

The Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation at NYP/Columbia has created a new program to help pediatric liver transplant patients transition to adult care.

The Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation (CLDT) in collaboration with pediatric surgery at NYP/Columbia is making noteworthy advances in the care of children with serious liver conditions, and is a national leader in this field. “Our superior outcomes are the result of unique surgical training, high patient volume, and unsurpassed multidisciplinary collaboration,” says Jean C. Emond, MD, Chief of Transplantation Services at Columbia. “The CLDT brings together leading experts hepatobiliary surgery, hepatology, gastroenterology, oncology, radiology, diagnostic testing and pathology to provide exceptional patient care.”

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is now the most common cause of chronic liver disease in the United States, affecting 25% of the population. Without intervention, it can lead to significant liver damage in a smaller group of those patients.

Treat and be Proactive.

Trillions of bacteria, fungi, and viruses live inside the human body. Some aid in digestion while others promote a healthy immune system. When these microbes get out of balance, this can set the stage for disease.

New antiviral therapies for Hep C are eliminating complications and producing better than 90 percent cure rates, says Lorna Dove, MD, MPH, a hepatologist at Columbia’s Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation. In the past clinicians used to “watch and wait” carefully monitoring the patients to see if they would fall into the 25% who develop fibrosis, and the smaller percentage who progress to liver cancer. “In the past, drugs for this virus were hard to take and we weren’t sure how well they would work in different populations. As a result, many individuals felt they were living with time bomb and in the meantime, worried that they might transmit Hep C to their loved ones.