Children’s Hospital Los Angeles (CHLA) continues to lead the nation in pediatric liver transplant outcomes, achieving the best one- and three-year patient survival rates in the United States for the , according to newly released data from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) and the Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN).
In addition to these best-in-class outcomes, CHLA also remained among the nation’s highest-volume centers. The team performed 29 pediatric liver transplants in 2025, the most in the Western U.S. and among the top three programs nationally.
“Achieving the nation’s best survival rates while sustaining one of the highest-volume and most complex pediatric liver transplant practices in the country is extraordinary,” said Kambiz Etesami, MD, FACS, chief of Abdominal Organ Transplantation at Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. “These results are a direct reflection of the strength and dedication of our entire multidisciplinary team.”
According to the SRTR data, CHLA’s pediatric liver transplant patients had:
100% one-year survival, compared with 96.22% nationally (July 1, 2022-Dec. 31, 2024)4% three-year survival, compared with 93% nationally (June 13, 2020-June 30, 2022)
These outcomes are especially notable given that the team takes on the most complex and difficult cases.
“These numbers are not just strong – they are exceptional,” said Beth Carter, MD, section chief of Hepatology and Medical Director of the Liver Transplant Program. “They are a testament to our team’s deep experience across every stage of care.”
In 2025, CHLA achieved several surgical firsts and milestones, including performing a transplant on a 2-week-old infant, the youngest-ever liver transplant recipient in California. Because the donor was a deceased adult, surgeons had to split the organ and then further reduce the graft to safely transplant it into the seven-pound baby. Also, last year, the team performed synchronous liver transplants on two pediatric patients, using portions of the same donated liver. The exceedingly rare dual procedures saved the lives of two children.
“These are surgeries that only a handful of programs in the country can perform,” Dr. Etesami noted. “Our goal is to expand access to transplant for children who previously would not have been candidates.”
The newly released data also underscore CHLA’s leadership in living donor liver transplantation. Since the program’s launch in 1998, roughly one-third of all liver transplants performed at CHLA have involved a living donor. This gives children access to a lifesaving transplant sooner, reduces wait list times and allows surgeons to tailor grafts to a child’s size and clinical needs. In a living donor transplant, a patient receives a small portion of a liver from a relative or compatible volunteer. The donor liver regrows to its previous capacity within six to 12 weeks, while the transplanted portion grows as the child does.
“Care is coordinated seamlessly across multiple specialties,” said Rohit Kohli, MBBS, MS, chief of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition at CHLA and associates chair in Liver and Intestinal Research. “Families are supported every step of the way, from diagnosis and transplant through long-term follow-up.”
Backed by a robust research program, CHLA continues to grow its leadership in pediatric liver transplantation.
“We are proud of what these results mean for our patients,” Dr. Kohli said. “But our focus is always forward – to advance the science, broaden access and give every child the strongest chance for a healthy future.”
Information for this article was sourced from Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.
