We take pride at Duke in our ability to evaluate new patients for consideration of liver transplantation as quickly as the referring physician deems appropriate.

Patients may be scheduled in clinic within one week if clinically indicated. Stable patients for routine referral are usually seen within two to three weeks at the transplant center.

A referral may be initiated by completing the liver transplant referral form (PDF, 29 KB) and faxing it to 919-681-7930.

You may also have your office staff call 919-684-6419 with pertinent demographic, diagnosis, and insurance information. The referring physician is always welcome to telephone the same number to request consultation information, or more urgently, to page the liver-attending physician on-call 24-hours-a day via the Duke operator at 919-684-8111.

The appropriate timing of referral for transplantation has become increasingly complicated as transplantation has become a more successful and standard therapy for treatment of liver disease. Transplantation has evolved to now being limited primarily by donor availability, with waiting times approaching two years even for priority candidates.

Therefore, the transplant center feels any patient known to be cirrhotic is appropriate for referral for consideration of transplantation. Referral is most appropriate if the patient has experienced any of the disease-severity indicators such as ascites, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis, variceal bleeding, coagulopathy, hypoalbuminemia, hyperbilirubinemia, or decreased quality of life related to liver disease; even if the problem is easily controlled with medications or has resolved.

Nationally, approximately 15 percent of patients on the waiting list for transplant die each year due to lack of donor availability. Most of the patients who die are originally listed when their disease is relatively well compensated.

As the time between listing and transplantation continues to increase, we recommend that patients be listed early in their disease process. The transplant center is willing to accept the responsibility of determining whether the patient requires listing for transplantation or close monitoring to list at a more appropriate time based on the current transplant climate and UNOS requirements.

Contact Information

Voice: 919-684-6419
Fax: 919-681-7930
Email: Liver_Transplant@mc.duke.edu