Associated Press | UCHealth marks 10,000 transplants: six decades of pioneering patient care and surgical innovation
Breakthrough technologies and evolving surgical techniques have transformed transplant care at UCHealth University of Colorado Hospital, where procedures once considered experimental 60 years ago are now safer, less invasive and more accessible than ever. These advancements fueled a milestone year for the program in 2025 including the completion of the 1,000th lung transplant, 1,000th heart, 5,000th kidney, and 3,000th liver transplant - adding to the program’s more than 10,000 transplant surgeries since 1962. In the early days of transplant medicine, solid organ transplant surgery was seen as experimental, risky and uncertain. Patients often spent weeks or even months in the hospital recovering. Today, advances in technology and surgical techniques have transformed transplant care for both recipients and living donors resulting in smaller incisions and shorter recovery times.