Organ Transplant Program

Our Approach

Illness that leads to transplant is among the most distressing. Once you’ve made the decision, your care team should be a source of comfort and assurance.

For 50 years, our transplant specialists have worked together with patients to ensure they receive the compassionate care, emotional support and financial assistance they need—offering hope and changing lives.

We are proud to be among the most experienced and respected transplant centers in the world. Our transplant teams are pioneers in transplant medicine for adults and children.

Adult transplants at the University of Minnesota Medical Center include heart, intestine, islet, kidney, liver, lung and pancreas.

How are we different from other transplant programs?

• We have performed more than 9,000 kidney transplants since 1963.
• We have performed more than 4,500 Living Donor Kidney Transplants.
• Since 1966, we have performed nearly 2,300 pancreas transplants – approximately 10 percent of all pancreas transplants in the world.
• In 1977, surgeons from University of Minnesota Physicians pioneered islet transplant to minimize the risk of diabetes after a patient has a total pancreatectomy (pancreas removal).
• We are leaders in using lung transplantation to reduce the impact of cystic fibrosis and other advanced lung diseases. We have also performed over 1,000 lung transplants.
• The Transplant Center is one of only a few in the country offering intestinal transplant.

Pediatric transplants at the University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital include heart, intestine, islet, kidney and liver.

What sets our program apart?

• Surgeons from University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital have performed more pediatric kidney transplants with greater success than any other program in the world.
• Our center is one of only 22 transplant programs in the country and the only hospital in the Twin Cities approved to implant the Berlin Heart EXCOR.^® This mechanical heart can keep people alive while waiting for a heart. In some cases, it can help heal the heart so transplant is not necessary.
• Our transplant team is internationally known for innovations in antirejection drug therapy.
• Our center is one of only a few in the country offering intestinal transplant for children.
• Living-donor liver transplants performed at University of Minnesota Masonic Children’s Hospital have some of the highest success rates in the nation.

Our providers have your best interest at heart, with the experience and skills to ensure that you receive excellent care. Our goal is to achieve the best possible outcomes for all of our patients.