Liver Transplant: the Ins and Outs (FutureLearn)

Learn about the science behind having a liver transplant with this free online course from the Centre for Liver Research. In this free, three-week course, we will teach you about the fascinating field of liver transplantation. We will cover the history of liver transplantation - from early experiments in the late 1960s to exciting new technological advances in organ preservation happening today.

Enroll in course

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You will find out why there is such an increasing global need for liver transplants, and look at the science behind the operation and the drugs used to prevent organ rejection. We will discuss the intriguing and unique biology of the liver, explaining how one donor organ can help two patients in need, and how some people can eventually manage without any anti-rejection medication.

Explore the major issues surrounding liver transplant

We will talk to the surgeons who perform the liver transplant operation; the clinical staff who care for the patients; the liver transplant coordinators who help to source and allocate donor organs; and patients themselves about their experiences of liver transplant.

During this course, we will explore the major issues that fascinate us:

- How is it possible to take an organ like the liver from one person and have it survive inside another?

- Have you ever wondered about the ethics of organ donation, and how organs should be allocated?

- Why is there such an increasing demand for donor livers for transplantation?

- And how can new advances increase the numbers of organs that are available for liver transplant?

Learn with experts from one of Europe’s largest liver transplant centres

You’ll learn with experts from the Centre for Liver Research at the University of Birmingham and the nearby Queen Elizabeth Hospital. This is one of Europe’s largest liver transplant centres, performing over 200 liver transplantations each year.

Learning on this course

You can take this self-guided course and learn at your own pace. On every step of the course you can meet other learners, share your ideas and join in with active discussions in the comments.
What will you achieve?

By the end of the course, you‘ll be able to...

- Apply new knowledge of the structure and function of the liver to understand the signs of disease.

- Assess the major reasons for liver transplantation.

- Compare the stages of the operation to remove a diseased liver and insert a new one.

- Collect information about the history of liver transplantation and key transplant pioneers.

- Apply knowledge to understand how patients are cared for after the operation.

- Assess future alternatives to transplantation.
Who is the course for?

The course will be of interest to anyone who is captivated by human biology, transplantation, surgery or your immune system.