A patient with HIV who waited more than two years for a kidney transplant received an organ in less than a week after joining a new donor list, Cedars-Sinai Medical Center announced.

The Los Angeles hospital recently performed its first kidney and liver transplants using organs from deceased donors who had HIV. Both patients are doing well, the hospital said.

The program is the only one of its kind in the Los Angeles area. Federal law once barred organs from HIV-positive donors from being transplanted into anyone. The 2013 HIV Organ Policy Equity Act opened the door to research, and rules were relaxed in 2024.

More than 95,000 people are on the US kidney transplant waitlist, according to federal data. Most wait three to five years. In Southern California, the wait can stretch to eight or ten years.

Lead surgeon Dr. Tsuyoshi Todo said a separate list for HIV-positive donor organs can cut that wait sharply.

The liver recipient benefited too. Patients in Los Angeles typically need a high MELD score to receive a liver. Accepting an HIV-positive organ that would otherwise go unused allowed a transplant at a much lower score.