Liver Transplant Care

We are available to see the following types of patients at the Northwestern Medicine transplant outreach clinic in Chesterton:

• Complex liver disease patients: Patients requiring a consultation or second opinion have the convenient option of being evaluated at a clinic closer to home.
• Potential liver transplant candidates: The initial visit to determine the likelihood of being a transplant candidate can be done at the clinic. If the patient is identified as a candidate, the patient will require evaluation by the liver transplant team at Northwestern Memorial Hospital before being listed for a liver transplant.
• Patients on the liver transplant waiting list: From the time patients are listed until transplantation, they may choose to have basic follow-up visits either at Northwestern Memorial Hospital or at the satellite clinic.

Kidney transplant care

At the outreach clinic in Chesterton, we offer all of the same kidney transplant evaluation services that patients and referring physicians are accustomed to receiving at Northwestern Memorial Hospital—from patient education to transplant evaluation. The kidney transplant team, consisting of a transplant nephrologist, surgeon, transplant nurse coordinator and social worker, are available to see the following types of patients at the Chesterton clinic:

• Potential kidney transplant candidates: Patients (recipient and donor) may attend a transplant education meeting and clinic visit to determine candidacy for a kidney transplant. Patients attend a group transplant education session and have the option of staying to begin their evaluation with a detailed history and physical followed by an evaluation plan. A living donor discussion is also presented for those interested in learning more about living kidney donation. After the evaluation, patients receive doctor’s orders for any further diagnostic testing, which can be done locally or at Northwestern Memorial Hospital's downtown campus. Information and findings from the evaluation process will be presented to the Northwestern Medicine Transplant Selection Committee.