Columbia University Irving Medical Center’s Liver Team Partners with ICU Specialists to Establish a Dedicated Liver ICU
A liver intensive care unit (ICU) offers significant advantages to critically ill patients with advanced liver disease, including those awaiting or being evaluated for liver transplant. The establishment of Columbia’s Liver ICU makes us one of only a few existing dedicated liver ICUs in the country.
Dr. Vivek Moitra, Critical Care Anesthesiologist at Columbia, states “Columbia’s SICU now has dedicated beds for patients with acute and chronic liver disease,” reiterating his passion to be partnering with the liver team to provide integrated care to even the most complex patients out there.
One of the primary advantages to a dedicated liver ICU is the implementation of a multidisciplinary care approach, one that is well known and practiced at Columbia. Our comprehensive team of transplant surgeons, hepatologists, Intestinal & Ex-Vivo specialists, nutritionists, and NPs can work together more efficiently, ensuring consistent communication between units and reducing delays in care. The ICU provides a localized environment where a dedicated team of caregivers can be hypervigilant about monitoring and treating high priority liver patients collaboratively, resulting in more intensive care. We are always seeking out new ways to advance and improve access to care, and this is a big step in that direction.
“We are committed to providing a full range of services for those with acute and chronic liver disease. Our team of experts, ranging from Hepatology, to Transplant Surgery, to Dedicated Liver ICU and anesthesia experts, are all involved in this multidisciplinary endeavor,” says Dr. Alyson Fox, Medical Director of the Adult Liver Transplant Program at Columbia.
Having a dedicated liver ICU has been studied and proven to result in improved outcomes for patients receiving critical stage liver care. Some of these factors include:
- Significant reductions in mortality rates for patients with advanced liver disease
- Lower risk of complications and hepatic decompensation
- Increased post-liver transplant survival rates.
Dr. Jason Hawksworth, Surgical Director & Chief of Hepatobiliary Surgery and Director of the Robotic Liver Surgery Program at Columbia, highlights the value of time in comprehensive liver care, as he states “time is critical in treating patients with liver failure, and this initiative will improve access to care for these complex patients.”
If you, a loved one, or a patient are in need of urgent liver care, please call us at 1-800-NYP-STAT.
We are located at:
CUIMC/Milstein Hospital Building
177 Fort Washington Ave,
New York, NY 10032
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For access to other liver cancer, liver disease, and transplantation services, call (877) LIVER MD/ (877) 548-3763 or visit us at:
The Center for Liver Disease and Transplantation
Presbyterian Hospital Building
622 W. 168th St., 14th Floor,
New York, NY 10032
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