By Carol Newman
The Transplant Center at Cleveland Clinic in Florida builds upon the longstanding success of the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. A leading provider of heart, kidney and liver transplants in South Florida, the team has the expertise to perform complex multi-organ transplants.
Located at Cleveland Clinic Weston Hospital, the Transplant Center is one of a select few medical centers in Florida performing kidney and liver living donor transplants. Living donors help patients get transplants faster, often while they’re still relatively healthy.
Cleveland Clinic experts are pioneering organ transplant procedures, and their dedication to research and clinical trials is improving the transplant process for patients everywhere. They’ve helped advance the safe transplantation of imperfect organs, allowing more patients to get lifesaving transplants.
Since June 2022, the transplant team has performed more than 65 deceased donor liver transplants using machine perfusion, an advanced organ preservation technique that circulates oxygenated blood or other fluids through the donor organ before transplantation.
“The adoption of machine perfusion methods for dynamic preservation of donor organs is the most exciting development in the field of transplantation in over a decade,” says David J. Reich, M.D., Surgical Director of the Liver Transplant Program and Chief of the Innovative Technology and Therapeutics Program for Cleveland Clinic in Florida. “These technologies are allowing for more transplants with better functioning organs while reducing wait times and improving outcomes.”
The Transplant Center has experience with both normothermic and hypothermic oxygenated machine perfusion preservation for liver transplantation. Normothermic perfusion (NMP) maintains the organ at body temperature (around 37°C), allowing continuous metabolic activity within the organ prior to transplantation. Hypothermic perfusion involves cooling the organ to a lower temperature, usually below 12°C. This slows down cellular processes and reduces metabolic demand during re-oxygenation.
“Both techniques provide us the opportunity to test, treat and repair donated organs,” says Dr. Reich. “Studies have demonstrated that machine perfusion can outperform static cold ‘icebox’ storage, the traditional preservation method, and results in safer outcomes and increased access to transplant.”
Cleveland Clinic’s outpatient centers throughout South Florida and the Treasure Coast make it easy to get disease care and post-transplant care closer to home. We also offer virtual visits and virtual second opinions.
Visit ClevelandClinicFlorida.org/Transplant to learn more.
