About Us

Antirejection Drug Weaning/Transplant Tolerance
The Waiting Period
Transplant FAQs
ISMETT and international transplant initiatives
Transplant IQ Quiz (pdf file)
Giving to the Starzl Institute

The mission of the Thomas E. Starzl Transplantation Institute is to foster a multidisciplinary approach to the continual improvement of the clinical, scientific, and social aspects of transplantation to improve the lives of patients with end-stage organ failure. The Starzl Transplantation Institute places a strong emphasis on the advancement of basic science and clinically applied research, and the teaching and training of multinational specialists.

The Starzl Transplantation Institute's transplant team has a tradition of caring for some of the most medically compromised patients. Nevertheless, the institute has maintained patient and graft survival rates that are significantly higher than the national average (this statistic comes from an analysis by the United Network for Organ Sharing).

Antirejection Drug Weaning/Transplant Tolerance
One of the most important developments in recent years at the Starzl Transplantation Institute has been the institution of protocols for "weaning" patients from antirejection drugs (also called tolerance induction). While these medications make transplantation possible in most cases, higher doses of antirejection drugs can also cause serious long-term side effects. UPMC transplantation experts have developed a method designed to minimize or even eliminate antirejection drugs in a way that provides excellent protection against organ rejection and reduces serious side effects. Today, all solid-organ transplant patients are considered for the weaning protocol.

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