Salt Lake City-based Intermountain Healthcare has more than tripled the number of liver transplants performed since 2018.
In 2023, the system reported 182 liver transplants, up from 39 transplants in 2018, representing a 367% increase, a spokesperson told Becker's. This progress makes Intermountain's liver program the third fastest-growing in the nation. Quality outcomes also outperform national benchmarks.
Intermountain attributed some of the program's rapid growth to the adoption of new technologies. Recently, Intermountain became the first system in Utah to use a new organ-saving technology called the OrganOx. This organ-saving technology helps preserve donated livers by continuously supplying them with oxygenated blood, medications and nutrients at body-like temperatures and conditions.
"This technology allows the donor liver to remain viable for longer periods of time, extending the time from organ removal to transplant from just hours to more than one day, and potentially travel longer distances between donor and recipient sites," Jean Botha, MD, medical director of Intermountain's abdominal transplant program and Intermountain Primary Children’s Hospital’s pediatric transplant program, said in a June 28 news release.