SGH Liver transplant Centre

As the largest legacy hospital in Singapore with numerous global awards under its belt, Singapore General Hospital's journey is one of medical excellence. Currently, liver transplant is one of SGH's key services, where SGH's Transplant programmes perform the highest number of transplants in the country.

Established in 2005, the Liver Transplant programme brings together various specialists from the cluster including hepato-pancreato-biliary/transplant surgeons, hepatologists, infectious diseases specialists, and allied health specialists into a multi-disciplinary centre to provide holistic care for patients with liver disease and require liver transplant.

Care is organised around the patients and their needs, where patients have the convenience of seeing their doctors in the same place.

Services Provided

We offer a full range of comprehensive services related to liver transplantation including:

Adult living liver donor liver transplant

Blood group compatible and incompatible
Small for size graft
Pure laparoscopic donor hepatectomy

Combined solid organ transplant
Pre transplant recipient assessment
Liver donor assessment Pre and peri liver transplant management
Lifetime post transplant follow up care
Post living liver donation care

On top of that, patients will receive full access to supportive care from multi-disciplinary team.

Pure Laparoscopic Adult Donor Hepatectomy

One of the major milestones was the introduction of pure laparoscopic adult living donor hepatectomy in 2019.

At the moment, SGH is one of the leading centres in the region for pure laparoscopic adult living donor hepatectomy where 94% of our living donors underwent laparoscopic hepatectomy since implementation.

Several advantages of laparoscopic living donor hepatectomy are:

Faster recovery
Improved cosmetics
Lower postoperative pain
Lower rate of hernia incidence
Less adhesions
Reduce length of stay

SGH deploys its highly experienced surgeons to master the challenges and tackle the complex techniques of laparoscopic liver surgery. SGH HPB surgeons have vast experience with over 1,200 laparoscopic liver resections and annual volume of 140 -150 laparoscopic liver resections per annum.

Since inception, zero living donor mortality has been reported at SGH and our surgeons are committed to hone their surgical skills in the hopes of improving patient outcomes and experience.

Laparoscopic paper: A systematic review and network meta-analysis of outcomes after open, mini-laparotomy, hybrid, totally laparoscopic, and robotic living donor right hepatectomy.

Living Donor Hepatectomy in Pictures

SGH Liver Transplant Programme Milestones

26 Mar 2022 – 1st Living Donor Intestinal Transplant in Singapore
19 Mar 2019 – 1st Laparoscopic Living Liver Donor hepatectomy in SGH
18 Jul 2017 – 1st ABO-incompatible transplant in South-East Asia
8 Apr 2009 – 1st combined heart and liver transplant in the region
15 Feb 2006 – 1st Deceased Donor Liver Transplant
22 May 2006 – 1st Living Donor Liver Transplant

Current Stats

In 2023, 100% 1-year recipient survival

Our multi-disciplinary team (Surgeons, Hepatologists, Infectious Disease Physician, Endocrinologist and Allied Health Professional etc) is devoted to improving patient care and transplant outcomes.

Transplant Outcomes

The following data presents SGH's liver transplant outcomes compared to international benchmarks, focusing on patient and graft survival rates for both deceased and living donor transplants. The analysis includes 1-year survival for benchmarked cases and 5-year survival for all cases.

	1-year survival for benchmarked cases*		5-year for all cases^#
	Deceased Donor	Living Donor	Deceased Donor	Living Donor
SGH Patient Survival, 2015 - 2023	96.8%	100.0%	86.1%	71.9%
International Benchmarks	91.6%³	90.9%⁴	81.4%¹	70.0%²
SGH Graft Survival, 2015 - 2023	96.8%	100.0%	86.1%	72.0%
International Benchmarks	89.0%³	92.3%⁴	79.3%¹	62.0%²

^#Analysis for five year includes all cases.
*Analysis for one year only includes SGH benchmarked cases.
For DDLT: benchmarked cases 56.1%
For LDLT: benchmarked cases 40.0%

DDLT inclusion criteria for benchmarked cases (include patients transplanted between 2015-2023 who fulfil this criteria)	LDLT inclusion criteria for benchmarked cases (include patients transplanted between 2015-2023 who fulfil this criteria)
MELD < 30 BAR ≤ 9 No previous biliary / liver surgery No portal vein thrombus Not in acute liver failure/require ventilation	MELD <20 No portal vein thrombosis No previous major abdominal surgery Not in acute liver failure, Not admitted to the ICU or needing renal replacement therapy / dialysis or ventilation at time of transplant No inflow modulation/ small for size graft

LDLT exclusion criteria (exclude patients transplanted between 2015-2023 who have this)
Cases with biliary atresia, previous major surgery (ie colon, stomach, biliary surgery, liver /wedge resection) Graft weight ratio <0.8

Legend

DDLT: Deceased Donor Liver Transplant

LDLT: Living Donor Liver Transplant

¹Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (OPTN)/Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients (SRTR) 2021 Annual Data Report: Liver, American Journal of Transplantation: Official Journal of the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons 2023; 23(2S1): pp. S178–S263

²Living donor liver transplantation in Europe HepatoBiliary, Surg Nutr 2016; 5(2): pp. 159-175

³Defining Benchmarks in Liver Transplantation A Multicenter Outcome Analysis Determining Best Achievable Results, Annals of Surgery 2018; 267(3): pp. 419-425

⁴Novel Benchmark for Adult-to-Adult Living-donor Liver Transplantation Integrating Eastern and Western Experiences, Annals of Surgery 2023; 278(5): pp. 798-806

SGH Liver Transplant Team

The SGH Liver Transplant Programme is led by a multidisciplinary team of specialists, including transplant surgeons, hepatologists, infectious disease physicians, and allied health professionals. Key leadership roles include the Transplant Program Director, Deputy Directors for Medical and Surgical aspects, and the Liver Transplant EXCO.

Transplant Program Director	Prof Brian Goh Kim Poh
Deputy Director (Medical)	Dr Thinesh Lee Krishnamoorthy
Deputy Director (Surgical)	A/Prof Koh Ye Xin
Liver Transplant EXCO	Dr Rahul Kumar (CGH) Dr Chiou Fang Kuan (KKH) Dr Chanda Ho (SGH) Dr Kalki R Chandrasekaran (SKH)
Transplant Hepatologists	Prof Chow Wan Cheng Prof Tan Chee Kiat Dr Rajneesh Kumar Dr George Goh Boon Bee Dr Thinesh Lee Krishnamoorthy Dr Chanda Ho (SGH) Dr Terence Tan
Transplant Surgeons	Prof Brian Goh Kim Poh A/Prof Prema Raj Jeyaraj Prof Alexander Chung A/Prof Cheow Peng Chung A/Prof Koh Ye Xin Dr Chua Weiquan Darren
Transplant Infectious Diseases Physicians	Prof Tan Ban Hock Prof Tan Thuan Tong Dr Jasmine Chung
Transplant Endocrinologist	Dr Kek Peng Chin
Transplant Cardiologists	Clin Asst Prof Teo Loon Yee Louis Clin Asst Prof Ng Choon Ta
Transplant Program Lead	Ms Ng Zhen Ling
Liver Transplant Coordinators	Ms Tuieng Seok Yin Ms Quah Yue Ling Ms Leong Ze Xi Ms Beverly Leow Ms Gayathri Elangovan
Specialty Nurse	Ms Chua Siew Huang
Transplant Medical Social Worker	Ms Crystal Lim Ms Geraldine Foo Ms Li Nianci
Transplant Dieticians	Ms Gillian Lum Mr Lim Yi Kai
Transplant Pharmacy Lead	Ms Yee Mei Ling
Transplant Physiotherapy Lead	Ms Low Wai Yan
Transplant Senior Associate	Mr Brenden Quek

Media Engagement

The Liver Transplant Centre actively engages with various media platforms to educate the public about liver health, transplantation procedures, and organ donation, aiming to raise awareness and promote understanding of this critical medical field:

Watch this space for more updates.

Liver Transplant Resources for Patients

Our webpage serves as a vital knowledge hub for those navigating the complexities of liver transplantation. This extensive collection of materials offers insights into every aspect of the transplant process, from initial evaluation to long-term post-transplant care. We strongly emphasize the importance of patients and caregivers educating themselves through these resources, as informed individuals are better equipped to work in partnership with the clinic to manage their condition effectively.

Liver Transplant at SGH