IVO G. TZVETANOV, MD, FACS

PROFESSOR OF SURGERY

Carl H. and Billie M. Frese & Gerald S. Moss Professor of Transplant Surgery
Surgical Director of Liver Transplant Program
Surgical Director of Pancreas Transplant Program
Surgical Director of Intestinal & Rehabilitation Program

General Profile

Specialty:

Abdominal Organ Transplant / General Surgery

Appointments:

Attending Surgeon at University of Illinois Hospital & Health Sciences System

Clinical Interests:

Abdominal Transplantation (liver, kidney and pancreas), Living Donor Transplantation, Hepatobiliary Surgery, Intestinal Rehabilitation and Transplant.

Languages Spoken:

English, Bulgarian, Russian

Education

Medical Education:

Medical University, Sofia, Bulgaria

Residency:

Fifth City Multiprophyle Hospital, Medical University, Sofia, Bulgaria

Second Residency:

University of Illinois, Metropolitan Group Hospitals, Chicago, Illinois

Fellowship:

University of Illinois at Chicago, Division of Transplantation

Certifications:

American Board of Surgery; General Surgeon Certificate in Bulgaria; ECFMG

Publications, Awards, & Memberships

Awards:

• The Metro ABSITE 90 Club Award for Excellence in Knowledge – 2005
• The Metro ABSITE 90 Club Award for Excellence in Knowledge – 2007
• The Metro ABSITE 90 Club The Highest Senior ABSITE Score the William A. Tito, MD, FACS Award – 2007
• Mercy Hospital and Medical Center William C. Allen, MD, FACS Award for Clinical Excellence and Humanitarianism – 2007
• Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center The John N. Sheagren, MD Legacy Award for Excellence in Teaching and Education – 2007
• American Transplant Congress Best Poster Presentation – 2012
• American Transplant Congress Best Poster Presentation – 2013
• 2014 Annual Olga Jonasson Award for Exceptional Personal Commitment to Residents Education in Surgery

Society Memberships:

• Warren H. Cole Society
• American Society of Transplant Surgery
• Clinical Robotic Surgery Association
• American College of Surgeons
• Fellow of American College of Surgeons

Publications:

• Apichai S, Rogalska A, Tzvetanov I, Asma Z, Benedetti E, Gaitonde S. Multifocal Cutaneous and Systemic Plasmablastic Lymphoma in an Infant with Combined Living Donor Small Bowel and Liver Transplant. Pediatr Transplant 2009; 13(5): 628-31.
• Thielke JJ, West-Thielke PM, Herren HL, Bareato U, Ommert T, Vidanovic V, Campbell-Lee SA, Tzvetanov IG, Sankary HN, Kaplan B, Benedetti E, Oberholzer J. Living Donor Kidney Transplantation Across Positive Crossmatch: The University of Illinois at Chicago Experience.Transplantation 2009; 87(2): 268-73.
Gangemi A, Tzvetanov IG, Beatty E, Oberholzer J, Testa G, Sankary HN, Kaplan B, Benedetti E. Lessons Learned In Pediatric Small Bowel and Liver Transplantation from Living-Related Donors.Transplantation 2009; 87(7): 1027-1030.
• Sweis I, Tzvetanov I, Benedetti E. The New Face of Transplant Surgery: A Survey on Cosmetic Surgery in Transplant Recipient. Aesthetic Plast Surg 2009; 33(6): 819-26 discussion 827.
• Oberholzer J, Tzvetanov I, Mele A, Benedetti E. Laparoscopic and Robotic Donor Pancreatectomy for Living Donor and Pancreas-Kidney Transplantation J Hepatobiliary Pancreas Sci 2010; 17(2): 97-100.
• Campara M, Tzvetanov IG, Oberholzer J. Interleukin-2 Receptor Blockade with Humanized Monoclonal Antibody for Solid Organ Transplantation. Expert Opin Biol Ther. 2010; 10(6): 959-69.
• Tzvetanov IG, Oberholzer J, Benedetti E. Current Status of Living Donor Small Bowel Transplantation Curr Opin Organ Transplant 2010; 15(3): 346-8.
• Giulianotti P, Gorodner V, Sbrana F, Tzvetanov I, Jeon H, Bianco F, Kinzer K, Oberholzer J, Benedetti E. Robotic Transabdominal Kidney Transplantation in a Morbidly Obese Patient. Am J Transplant 2010; 10(6): 1478-82.
• Ghafari JL, Bhati C, John E, Tzvetanov IG, Testa G, Jeon H, Oberholzer J, Benedetti E. Long-Term Follow-Up in Adult Living Donors for Combined Liver/Bowel Transplant in Pediatric Recipients: A Single Center Experience Pediatr Transplant. 2011; 15(4): 425-9.
• Tang IY, Walzer N, Aggarwal N, Tzvetanov I, Cotler S, Benedetti E. Management of the Kidney Transplant Patient with Chronic Hepatitis C Infection Int J Nephrol. 2011; 2011:245823. Epub 2011.
• Tzvetanov IG, Bhati CS, Jeon H, Glover AE, Oberholzer J, Benedetti E. Segmental Intestinal Auto-transplantation after Extensive Enterectomy for Removal of Large Intra-Abdominal Desmoid Tumors of the Mesentery Root: Initial Experience Surgery. 2012; 151(4): 621-4.
• Jeon H, Bhati C, Tzvetanov I, Oberholzer J, Kinzer K, Benedetti E. Calibrated Extra-Anatomic Hepatic Arterial Reconstruction in Living Donor Liver Transplantation Transpl Int. 2011; 25(1): e16-8 .
• Ghafari J, Tzvetanov I, Spaggiari M, Jeon H, Oberholzer J, Benedetti E. The Effect of Small Bowel Living Donation on Donor Lipid Profile Transpl Int. 2012; 25(1): e19-20
• Giulianotti PC, Tzvetanov I, Jeon H, Bianco F, Spaggiari M, Oberholzer J, Benedetti E. Robotic-Assisted Right Lobe Donor Hepatectomy Transpl Int. 2012; 25(1): e5-9.
• Tzvetanov I, Spaggiari M, Jeon H, Bhati C, Hassan S, Joseph J, Heinrich L, Thielke J, Setty S, Oberholzer J, Benedetti E. Rescue Splenectomy in a Case of Humoral Rejection in ABO-Incompatible Simultaneous Liver-Kidney Transplantation Transplantation. 2012; 93(2): e1-2.
• Tzvetanov I, Spaggiari M, Jeon H, Garcia-Roca R, Osipova M, Oberholzer J, Benedetti E. Renal Artery Aneurysm in Robotic Donor Nephrectomy:A Case Report Exp Clin Transplant. 2012; 10(3): 293-5.
• Tzvetanov I, Spaggiari M, Jeon H, Garcia-Roca R, Bhati C, Oberholzer J, Benedetti E. The Role of Splenectomy in the Setting of Refractory Humoral Rejection after Kidney Transplantation Transplant Proc. 2012; 44(5): 1254-8.
• Tzvetanov I, Spaggiari M, Oberholzer J, Setty S, Stephenson A, Thielke J, West-Thielke P, Jeon H, Danielson KK, Kaplan B, Benedetti E. Cell Population in Spleens during Antibody-Mediated Rejection: Pathologic and Clinical Findings Transplantation. 2012; 94(3): 255-62.
• Tzvetanov I, Spaggiari M, Joseph J, Jeon H, Thielke J, Oberholzer J, Benedetti E. The Use of Bortezomib as a Rescue Treatment for Acute Antibody Mediated Rejection: Report of Three Cases and Review of Literature Transplant Proc. 2012; 44(10): 2971-5.
• Oberholzer J, Giulianotti P, Danielson KK, Spaggiari M, Bejarano-Pineda L, Bianco F, Tzvetanov I, Ayloo S, Jeon h, Garcia-Roca R, Thielke J, Tang I, Akkina S, Becker B, Kinzer K, Patel A, Benedetti E. Minimally invasive Robotic Kidney Transplantation for Obese Patients Previously Denied Access to Transplantation. Am J Transplant. 2013; 13(3): 721-8.
• Casadaban L, Parvinian A, Tzvetanov IG, Jeon H, Oberholzer J, Benedetti E, Bui JT, Gaba RC Unconventional Extrahepatic Neovascularization After Transplant Hepatic Artery Thrombosis: A Case Report. Transplant Proc. 2013: 45(7): 2841-4.
• Tzvetanov I, Bejarano-Pineda L, Giulianotti PC, Jeon H, Garcia-Roca R, Bianco F, Oberholzer J, Benedetti E. State of the Art of Robotic Surgery in Organ Transplantation. World J Surg. 2013; 37(12): 2791-9.
• Tzvetanov I, Giulianotti PC, Bejarano-Pineda L, Jeon H, Garcia-Roca R, Bianco F, Oberholzer J, Benedetti E. Robotic-assisted kidney transplantation Surg Clin North Am. 2013; 93(6): 1309-23.
• Choudhury N, Khan AB, Tzvetanov I, Garcia-Roca R, Oberholzer J, Benedetti E, Jeon H. Cerebellar Abscess Caused by Listeria Monocytogenes in a Liver Transplant Patient. Transpl Infect Dis. 2013; 15(6): E224-8.
• Tzvetanov I, D’Amico G, Bejarano-Pineda L, Benedetti E. Robotic-assisted Pancreas transplantation: Where are We Today? Curr Opin Organ Transplant. 2014; 19(1): 80-2.
• Garcia-Roca R, Walczak D, Tzvetanov I, Khan A, Oberholzer J. The Application of Indocyanine Green to Evaluate Duodenal Perfusion in Pancreas Transplantation. Am J Transplant. 2014; 14(1): 226-8.
• Giulianotti PC, D’Amico G, Tzvetanov I, Benedetti E. Living Donor Parathyroid Allotransplantation with Robotic Transaxillary Procurement in a Kidney Transplant Recipient. Transpl Int. 2014 27(6): e43-5.
• Khan A, Park P, Oberholzer J, Tzvetanov I, Garcia-Roca R, Gaba RC, Benedetti E, Jeon H. Concurrent Hepatic Artery and Portal Vein Thromboses After Orthotopic Liver Transplantation with Preserved Allograft. Case Rep Transplant. 2014; 2014: 384295 Epub 2014.
• Tzvetanov I, D’Amico G, Walczak D, Jeon H, Garcia-Roca R, Oberholzer J, Benedetti E. “High rate of Unemployment after Kidney Transplantation: Analysis of the United Network for Organ Sharing Database. Transplant Proc. 2014; 46(5): 1290-4.
• Choudhury N, Khan A, Tzvetanov I, Garcia-Roca R, Oberholzer J, Benedetti E, Jeon H. Multiple Aspergillus Brain Abscesses after Liver Transplantation. Transplantation 2014; 97(12): e72-3.
• Qi M, Kinzer K, Danielson KK, Martellotto J, Barbaro B, Wang Y, Bui JT, Gaba RC, Knuttinen G, Garcia-Roca R, Tzvetanov I, Heitman A, Davis M, McGarrigle JJ, Benedetti E, Oberholzer J. Five-year follow-up of patients with type 1 diabetes transplanted with allogeneic islets: the UIC experience Acta Diabetol. Acta Diabetol. 2014 Oct;51(5):833-43. doi: 10.1007/s00592-014-0627-6. Epub 2014 Jul 18.PMID:25034311.
• Tzvetanov I, West-Thielke P, D’Amico G, Johnsen M, Ladik A, Hachaj G, Grazman M, Heller RU, Fernhall B, Daviglus ML, Solaro RJ, Oberholzer J, Gallon L, Benedetti E. A novel and personalized rehabilitation program for obese kidney transplant recipients.Transplant Proc. 2014 Dec;46(10):3431-7. doi: 10.1016/j.transproceed.2014.05.085. PMID: 25498067
• Ayloo SM, D’Amico G, West-Thielke P, Bejarano-Pineda L, Tzvetanov I, Giulianotti PC, Benedetti E, Oberholzer J. Combined Robot-assisted Kidney Transplantation and Sleeve Gastrectomy in a Morbidly Obese Recipient. Transplantation. 2015 Jul;99(7):1495-8. doi: 10.1097/TP.0000000000000541.PMID: 25675197
• Tzvetanov I, D’Amico G, Benedetti E. Robotic-assisted Kidney Transplantation: Our Experience and Literature Review. Curr Transplant Rep. 2015;2(2):122-126. Review. PMID: 26000230
• Tzvetanov I, Garcia- Roca R, Jeon H, Hetterman E, Oberholzer J, Benedetti E Successful living donor intestinal transplantation in cross-match positive recipients: initial experience. World J Gastrointest Surg. 2016 jan 27; 8(1):101-5
• Garcia-Roca R, Garcia-Aroz S, Tzvetanov IG, Giulianotti PC, Campara M, Oberholzer J, Benedetti E Simultaneous Living Donor Kidney and Parathyroid Allotransplantation: First Case Report and Review of Literature. Transolantation. 2016 Jan 12.
• Kastelz A, Tzvetanov IG, Fernhall B, Shetty A, Gallon L, West-Thielke P, Hachaj G, Grazman M, Benedetti E. Experimental Protocol of a randomized controlled clinical trial investigating the effects of personalized exercise rehabilitation on kidney transplant recipients` outcomes. Contemp Clin Trials. 2015 Nov; 45(Pt B):170-6.BOOK CHAPTERS• Oberholzer J, Tzvetanov I, Benedetti E “Surgical Complications of Pancreas Transplantation.” Pancreas, Islets and Stem Cell Transplantation for Diabetes, Oxford University Press. Aug 2010.
• Tzvetanov IG, Spaggiari M, Oberholzer J, Benedetti E “Robotic Donor Nephrectomy: Hand-Asisted Technique” Robotic Renal Surgery Springer 2013. Library of Congress Control Number: 2013934276
• Tzvetanov IG, Bejarano-Pineda L, Oberholzer J “Robotic Donor Nephrectomy and Robotic Kidney Transplant” Robotics in General Surgery Springer 2013
• Tzvetanov IG, Bejarano-Pineda L, Benedetti E “Living Related Small Bowel Transplantation: Progress, Pitfalls and Promise” Regenerative Medicine Applications in Organ Transplantation, Elsevier 2014
• Garcia-Roca R, Tzvetanov IG, Oberholzer J, Benedetti E. “Transplantation Surgery” Robotic Surgery – Current Application and New Trends, Editor: Guiseppe Spinoglio, Springer 2015
• Tzvetanov I, D’Amico G, Benedetti E. “Segmental Living-Related Small Bowell Transplantation”. Abdominal Solid Organ Transplantation, Editors: Pinna D, Ercolani G. Springer 2015
• Tzvetanov I, D’Amico G, Giulianotti PC, Benedetti E Robotic-Assisted Kidney Transplantation. Kidney Transplantation, Bioengineering and Regeneration, First Edition. (submited)