A Record Year for Cedars-Sinai Transplant Patients

The Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Transplant Center and Smidt Heart Institute together completed 652 solid organ transplants in 2023, far outpacing Cedars-Sinai’s internal record set just one year ago, when surgeons completed 583 transplants.

Known for leading-edge therapies and taking on the most complex patients, Cedars-Sinai transplant teams also completed a triple organ transplant in 2023, performing a successful heart, liver and kidney transplant during a 20-hour surgery.

“Genuine compassion, commitment and teamwork enable us to perform these lifesaving operations,” said Irene Kim, MD, the Esther and Mark Schulman Chair in Surgery and Transplantation Medicine and director of the Cedars-Sinai Comprehensive Transplant Center. “We are so fortunate to be able to offer our patients lifesaving treatments through donors’ gifts of life.”

There currently are more than 100,000 people in the U.S. on the organ transplant waiting list, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, the nonprofit organization that manages the U.S. organ transplant system. About 20,000 of those are in California.

In 2023, Cedars-Sinai was the ninth-largest transplant center by volume in the U.S., according to current published data from the Organ Procurement & Transplantation Network.

The Comprehensive Transplant Center and Smidt Heart Institute reported excellent patient outcomes, with one-year survival after transplantation at 91% or greater and lung, liver and kidney survival exceeding the national average.

The Kidney Transplant Program team, led by Stanley Jordan, MD, medical director of the Comprehensive Transplant Center’s Human Leukocyte Antigen and Transplant Immunology Laboratory, demonstrated the largest leap. The team performed 336 kidney transplants in 2023, including 15 pediatric transplants. The previous record was 298.

The liver transplant team, led by Nicholas Nissen, MD, surgical director of the Liver Transplant Program and director of Hepatobiliary and Pancreatic Surgery, and Alexander Kuo, MD, professor of Medicine and medical director of the Liver Transplant Program, performed 104 liver transplants in 2023. The 2022 figure was 102.

The Department of Cardiac Surgery in the Smidt Heart Institute is home to one of the largest thoracic organ transplant programs in the U.S. Led by Jon Kobashigawa, MD, director of Advanced Heart Disease and the Heart Transplant Program in the Smidt Heart Institute, and Fardad Esmailian, MD, surgical director of the Heart Transplant Program, the team performed 130 adult heart transplants and two heart-lung transplants in 2023.

The lung transplant team, led by surgical director Dominick Megna, MD, and medical director Reinaldo Rampolla, MD, also reached a new milestone in 2023 with 80 lungs transplanted, placing the program among the top 10 of U.S. lung transplant programs.

The Cedars-Sinai multidisciplinary transplant teams include physicians, nurses, social workers, pharmacists, physician assistants, dietitians, technicians, perfusionists, researchers, administrative professionals and others committed to successful organ transplants.

“So many people work together to create these lifesaving programs, and the contributions of our donors, family and friends who support our transplant team are profound,” Kim said. “They step in to help our patients and their caregivers make it through a transplant, help each other when things get busy and offer our patients and team members emotional and physical support when needed. That is truly inspiring.” 

Read more on the Cedars-Sinai Blog: 7 Myths About Organ Donation