Steve Jobs had liver transplant in Tennessee: Report

While little is known about the actual operation, according to the United Network for Organ Sharing, which manages the transplant network in the U.S., the waiting list for a liver in Tennessee is much lower than the rest of the country.

In 2006, the median number of days from joining the liver waiting list to transplant was 306 nationally while in Tennessee, it was 48 days, according to data from the UNOS.

Jobs went on medical leave in January to treat an undisclosed medical condition. Many tech watchers and Apple fans hoped his return to the company would coincide with an appearance at the Worldwide Developers Conference in San Francisco with an announcement of the new iPhone 3G S, but that did not occur.

However, Jobs has been recovering well and is expected to return to work on schedule later this month though he may only work part-time initially due to his physician’s recommendation, a person familiar to the matter told the WSJ.

Jobs, 54, faced intense speculation regarding his health since last June's Worldwide Developers Conference, when he appeared to have lost a great deal of weight. The company later revealed earlier this year in January that Jobs was suffering from a hormone imbalance that was impeding his body's ability to absorb certain proteins.

Earlier in August 2004, Jobs underwent successful surgery to treat a rare form of pancreatic cancer, which kept him away from work until September of that year.