First Liver Transplant Performed at Montefiore Medical Center
October 19, 2008
After a several-year process of applying to New York State for a Certificate of Need, battling the self-interest of some of the other liver transplant programs in the city, hiring the appropriate surgical and hepatology staff, and acquiring the necessary approvals by transplant associations and the New York State Department of Health, Montefiore Medical Center performed its first liver transplant on October 10. The patient had idiopathic fulminant hepatitis and was transferred from Weiler to the Moses Division. At present, the patient is doing extremely well and is expected to be discharged home in a day or so.
The Department of Medicine extends sincerest congratulations to the transplant surgical team led by Milan Kinkhabwalla, to hepatologists Paul Gaglio and John Reinus, and to all the support staff who cared for this first patient and whose outstanding dedication and effort created this important program for Montefiore Medical Center.
Montefiore's liver transplant program, the first and only of its kind in the Bronx, was approved by the New York State Department of Health August 20, 2008.