South Africa: From Split Livers to Machine Perfusion - the 20-Year Evolution of Liver Transplants in South Africa

What the report says

South Africa’s liver transplant sector has evolved significantly over the past two decades, according to a Conversation Africa analysis republished by AllAfrica. The piece highlights how the Wits Donald Gordon Medical Centre in Johannesburg recently reached 1,000 liver transplants since starting its programme in 2004, reflecting broader changes in the country’s transplant landscape.

The article says liver transplantation in South Africa was long centered at the University of Cape Town, which began building a deceased-donor programme in the 1980s. Since Wits Donald Gordon opened its unit, surgeons there have expanded the range of procedures, including split-liver transplants, living-donor operations, blood-group-incompatible transplants, and treatment for acute liver failure. The centre’s head of transplant surgery, Jerome Loveland, also described machine perfusion as the latest major advance.

That technology is used to preserve and revive donor livers more effectively before transplant, particularly organs from older or otherwise higher-risk donors. The article says the Johannesburg centre is currently the only unit in Africa using it and that the approach can make additional organs usable that might otherwise be discarded. It also notes the method may reduce early graft problems and lower post-operative costs.

Despite these gains, the biggest constraint remains the shortage of deceased donor organs. The report says more than 4,000 people in South Africa are waiting for transplants and that many patients still become too sick before an organ becomes available. Loveland uses the milestone to encourage more South Africans to register as organ donors.