Adult Liver Transplant

To date, NUCOT has performed more than 400 successful adult and paediatric living and deceased donor liver transplantations. We continue to provide post-transplant care and medical follow-ups at our Specialist Outpatient Clinic. On average, we perform about 70% of the total number of liver transplants (both living and deceased donor liver transplants) in Singapore annually.

In 2020, NUCOT performed 75% of the total liver transplants in Singapore (both living and deceased donor liver transplants).1

NUCOT is also a national referral centre for Singapore's deceased liver donations and transplants. In 2020, we performed 63.6% of the total number of deceased donor liver transplants in Singapore.1

¹ Based on 2020 annual report from the Ministry of Health, National Organ Transplant Unit.

NUH started our first liver transplant in 1990, and since then, our post-transplant outcomes have been recognised internationally. Our clinical outcomes are better than or comparable with international benchmarks. Our post-transplant patient survival and graft survival rates are illustrated in the tables below:

Since 1990, NUCOT has performed more than 400 liver transplants and demonstrated clinical outcomes comparable to international standards. NUCOT has also established many major liver transplant milestones over the years:

• 1990 - Deceased donor liver transplant for adult patient in Singapore
• 1996 - Living donor liver transplant for adult patient in Singapore
• 1997 - Deceased donor split liver transplant in Singapore
• 2002 - Right lobe graft from a living donor for adult patient in Singapore
• 2006 - Laparoscopic retrieval on adult donor who donated to paediatric liver patient in Singapore
  
• 2010 - Combined liver and kidney transplant on a 16-year-old patient in Singapore
• 2016 - Altruistic non-directed donor liver transplant in Singapore
• 2018 - Laparoscopic retrieval on adult donor who donated to adult liver patient in Singapore
• 2022 - Living donor liver transplant for adult patient with Stage 4 colorectal cancer in the region

• துவாழ்வு நரம் உறுப்பு தாளம் (Organ donation gives new life)

• ST Singaporean of Year is organ donor who gave baby new lease of life & I thought to myself: I'm young, I have time to recover
• 本地活体捐肝者死亡率为零 仅1.5%出现严重病发症 (Zero mortality rate among living liver donors in Singapore; only 1.5% suffer serious complications)
• [Video] Channel 8 (Evening): 本地活体捐肝者死亡率为零 仅1.5%出现严重病发症 (Zero mortality rate among living liver donors in Singapore; only 1.5% suffer serious complications)
• 国大医院调查：活体肝脏捐献者术后并发症几率低于10% 死亡率是零 (NUH study: Zero mortality and less than 10% complication rate for living liver donor post operation)
• 国大医院截至2019年研究发现 活体肝脏捐赠者死亡率为零 (NUH finds zero mortality rate for living liver donors from study conducted as of 2019)
• [Video] Health Matters – Liver donor transplants
• Social media appeals lead to more liver transplants from strangers
• Health Suites: Greater assurance to be a living donor in Singapore
• Man needs urgent liver transplant, wife struggles to cope
• 工程师肝爆裂急需移植未果 妻子：十余个希望逐个破灭 (Engineer with liver failure urgently needed a transplant but failed. Wife: more than a dozen hopes dashed one by one)
• Mum with colorectal cancer gets new lease of life with son's liver
• 本地换肝移除第四期结直肠癌细胞首例 阿兵哥捐七成肝救末期癌母脱险 (First living donor liver transplant in Singapore to remove stage 4 colorectal cancer; National serviceman donates 70 per cent of liver to save mother from terminal cancer)
• 22岁阿兵哥捐肝 助肠癌母获新生 (22-year-old national serviceman donates liver to save mother from terminal cancer)
• மகனின் கல்லீரல் தாய்க்கு; உறுப்பு மாற்று சிகிச்சை சாதனை (S'pore successfully conducted living liver transplant from mother to son)
• Singapore conducts region's first living donor liver transplant on stage 4 colorectal cancer patient
• 亚洲首例！本地结肠直肠癌末期病患 成功进行活体换肝手术 (First of its kind in Asia! Singapore's patient with terminal colorectal cancer undergoes successful living liver replacement surgery)
• [Video] Singapore conducts its first living donor liver transplant on stage 4 colorectal cancer patient
• Pemindahan hati beri kehidupan baru kepada pesakit barah kolorektal tahap 4 (Liver transplantation gives new life to stage 4 colorectal cancer patients)
• சிங்கப்பூரில் முதல்முறையாகப் புற்றுநோயின் இறுதிக்கட்டத்தில் இருந்தவருக்குக் கல்லீரல் மாற்று அறுவை சிகிச்சை (For the first time in Singapore, patient with terminal colorectal cancer undergoes liver transplant)
• Singapore conducts living donor liver transplant on Stage 4 colorectal cancer patient
• 孝子捐肝救癌母 东南亚首例肝移植治愈晚期结直肠癌 (Filial son donates liver to save mother from terminal cancer; First liver transplant in Southeast Asia to cure advanced colorectal cancer)
• 22岁孝子捐肝救癌母-成就首宗移植治愈晚期癌(22-year-old filial son donates liver to save mother from terminal cancer)

Click here for more news related to NUCOT’s kidney transplant.

National University Centre for Organ Transplantation (NUCOT) provides pre and post-transplant patients with comprehensive, dedicated and individualised care. We also welcome potential living organ donors to get in touch with us.

Referrals to NUCOT

NUCOT takes in self-referrals and referrals from healthcare practitioners. Patients can do a self-referral by contacting our NUCOT clinic directly or have your primary physician refer you to us.

Click here for our NUCOT clinic's location, contact details and operating hours or to make an appointment with us.

Download our PDF brochures:

• English (PDF, 312 KB)
• Chinese (PDF, 388 KB)
• Malay (PDF, 285 KB)

Information accurate as of June 2024