Shands at UF plans to reopen its liver transplant program in the next two months, according to hospital officials.
The transplant program, which peaked in recent activity with 103 transplants in 2008, had transplants drop by more than 50 percent during 2009. They stayed relatively flat in 2010, according to the Shands website.
Shands voluntarily deactivated its liver and pancreas transplant programs in August, including transplants for children. Three surgeons had left the hospital in less than two months, and there were not enough faculty to provide needed care to patients, said Dr. Kevin Behrns, chair of the department of surgery at UF.
Miami is the only location in Florida that is currently performing liver transplants for children.
Last month, the department of surgery hired a new chief of transplantation surgery, Dr. Jeffrey Fair, and began filing paperwork to the United Network for Organ Sharing to resume liver transplants.
Shands can currently evaluate patients for liver transplants but cannot put them on an organ donor waiting list.
About 30 patients are interested in going back on the Shands waiting list, Behrns said, but it is uncertain how long the hospital will have to wait to perform a liver transplant.
The median wait time for a patient on the Shands transplant list is three months, according to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients.
“You need the appropriate recipient and the organ donor,” Behrns said.
