NewYork-Presbyterian Performed Most Transplants in the Country in 2023, Saving Lives and Transforming Care Through Innovation and Experience

NewYork-Presbyterian, one of the largest, most experienced transplant hospitals in the nation, performed 953 transplant surgeries in 2023, more than any other hospital in the U.S., according to the United Network for Organ Sharing. This includes heart, lung, liver, kidney, intestine, and pancreas transplants from deceased donors, as well as living donor transplantation for kidney and liver.

“Nothing excites me more than watching a patient enjoy a healthy life after transplant,” says Dr. Tomoaki Kato, chief of transplant surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the Edwin C. and Anne K. Weiskopf Professor of Surgical Oncology at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. “We are grateful to organ donors and their families, and proud of our teams that take on complex cases that other institutions turn away.”

NewYork-Presbyterian has performed more than 19,000 transplants since the transplant program’s inception and has been the leading transplant hospital in the nation for the past three years in annual transplant volume. The hospital has performed the most living donor transplants in the United States (including transplants from NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center and NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center).

“The tremendous skill and experience of our team allows us to achieve the best possible outcomes for patients with the most complex, challenging cases,” says Dr. Sandip Kapur, chief of transplant surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and the Jeannette and Jeffrey Lasdon Professor of Surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine. “We continue to champion life-changing strategies and initiatives to help those in need to receive successful transplants.”

As an international leader in organ transplantation with more than 50 years of experience, NewYork-Presbyterian is at the forefront of innovation, using cutting-edge technologies and performing minimally invasive robotic surgeries.

Teams across multiple specialties provide care for some of the most complex transplants, including multi-organ transplants. The transplant teams recently performed the first-ever “domino” heart valve transplant in infants, saving the lives of two babies and potentially transforming how heart valve disease is treated in children. In 2022, NewYork-Presbyterian expanded its renowned heart transplant program, increasing access to its world-class heart failure care.

“We are committed to advancing heart transplant care by developing new and innovative therapies to help patients live longer and enjoy a better quality of life,” says Dr. Nir Uriel, director of advanced heart failure and cardiac transplantation at NewYork-Presbyterian, the Seymour, Paul and Gloria Milstein Professor of Cardiology in the Department of Medicine at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and an adjunct professor of medicine in the Greenberg Division of Cardiology at Weill Cornell Medicine. “It is a privilege to help our patients in need, many of whom have run out of options.”

NewYork-Presbyterian’s transplant team recently celebrated key milestones of 6,000 living donor transplants (kidney and liver) and 1,500 lung transplants.

“I am proud of our amazing lung transplant team for their dedication to our patients and commitment to advancing care for end-stage respiratory disease,” says Dr. Selim Arcasoy, medical program director of lung transplantation at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia University Irving Medical Center and Professor of Medicine (in Pediatrics) at Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons. “Our mission is to offer patients with advanced lung disease a renewed opportunity for a healthy and fulfilling life.”

By pioneering new approaches to transplantation and working to improve health equity, NewYork-Presbyterian is helping save lives. Our renowned team performed the first paired liver swap (which match donor and candidate pairs who are not the best match with other pairs who are) in the region.

“We are excited to offer living donors robotic-assisted surgery, with advanced, minimally invasive techniques that reduce recovery time and result in exceptional outcomes,” says Dr. Benjamin Samstein, chief of liver transplantation and hepatobiliary surgery in the Department of Surgery at NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center and at Weill Cornell Medicine, surgical director of the living donor liver transplant program at NewYork-Presbyterian and professor of surgery at Weill Cornell Medicine. “Our team is dedicated to driving innovation and delivering compassionate, comprehensive care to each patient.”

NewYork-Presbyterian is pleased to share key highlights about our programs.

• NewYork-Presbyterian is one of only a few centers in the nation offering robotic donor surgery to all living liver donors.
• NewYork-Presbyterian’s surgeons developed robotic surgery protocols for liver cancer surgery, living donor liver surgery and liver transplantation, expanding the benefit of a minimally invasive approach to all patients.
• NewYork-Presbyterian’s teams performed more than 500 living donor liver transplants since the program’s inception. The pediatric liver program also reached a milestone of 500 transplants in 2023.

• The kidney transplant program at NewYork-Presbyterian has performed the most transplants in the nation. NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center is the founding center of the National Kidney Registry, leading national efforts in utilizing paired donation and advanced kidney donation (when a living donor can donate on their schedule, giving the recipient a voucher for another living donor kidney when they’re ready for one).
• NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia is one of the participating sites in a clinical trial that aims to decrease the barriers to successful kidney transplantation, the PANORAMA trial. In January 2023, we enrolled the first patient in the world in this pivotal trial.

• At the forefront of new and revolutionary therapies, the teams at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia performed a first in the northeast in December 2022: a total artificial heart implant in one of the youngest pediatric patients.
• The adult heart transplant program at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia has the highest three-year patient survival outcomes in the country, as of June 2024.
• NewYork-Presbyterian’s heart transplant team has performed more than 3,000 heart transplants, far exceeding other hospitals. The program has trained one of the largest cohorts of transplant physicians and surgeons in the U.S., and recently expanded services so that patients can get world-class cardiac care closer to where they live.

• The program at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia has become the third largest transplant center in volume of transplants nationwide, performing more than 100 transplants annually.
• NewYork-Presbyterian’s five-year and 10-year lung transplant survival rates exceed the national average, as we help patients through their transplant journey while maintaining a high standard of care.