VCU news

By Leha Byrd

With the addition of its newest hire, the VCU Health Hume-Lee Transplant Center is poised to again offer pediatric liver transplantation and will re-launch its living donor liver transplantation program in 2017. Trevor Reichman, M.D., joined Hume-Lee as a lead surgeon for liver transplantation in July.

Reichman, an associate professor in the Virginia Commonwealth University Division of Transplant Surgery, will perform the procedures both adult-to-adult and adult-to-child.

When the head of the Hume-Lee Transplant Center’s living donor liver transplant program transferred to Boston in 2014, it was the first time in two decades VCU Health was unable to offer the living liver transplant procedure. With Reichman on board, the center now has its entire multidisciplinary team onsite, and can care for patients from the pre-evaluation phase, through the surgery itself and during post-transplant recovery. The medical team includes transplant surgeons, hepatologists, interventional radiologists and other clinicians trained in transplant care.

“Dr. Reichman is a rising star in the transplant and hepatobiliary surgery world, and his addition brings immense breadth and depth to our already rich talent pool,” said Marlon F. Levy, M.D., chair of the Division of Transplant Surgery and director of the VCU Health Hume-Lee Transplant Center.

Before coming to VCU Health, Reichman was a transplant surgeon at Ochsner Transplant Center in New Orleans. It is the largest comprehensive transplant program in Louisiana. At VCU, Reichman said his goals include starting the pediatric liver program by year’s end and having the adult-to-adult living-donor program running by the middle of next year. 

“It’s a true honor and privilege to be a part of this talented team within such a storied program like VCU Health,” he said. “I’m excited to help build on the tradition established here, and hope we can bring it to new heights as we look to expand in transplantation and hepatobiliary surgery.”

Living-donor liver transplantation is a preferable procedure, because it allows patients to receive the transplant in a timely fashion without having to wait for a deceased donor’s organ. Because the surgeries are precisely scheduled, recipients can be optimized for the surgery in the hopes of reducing perioperative complications, and improving post-transplant recovery. There is also recent data that suggests long-term outcomes are improved with living-donor liver transplantation, Reichman said.

Cirrhosis, or liver injury, is a common reason why adults need liver transplants. Among children, the most common reason for liver failure is biliary atresia. This happens when the liver’s bile ducts (tubes that carry bile out of the liver) are missing or obstructed. When bile can’t leave the liver, it causes liver damage. The Hume-Lee Transplant Center will work in concert with Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU to treat pediatric patients.

For more information about the Hume-Lee Transplant Center and the procedures and care it offers, call 804-828-4104.