Breathing Life into Lung Transplants! -- Research Summary

BACKGROUND: There are more than 1,600 people waiting for a lung transplant today. The wait for suitable donor organs to become available may be a year or longer. The average waiting time on the list is 18 months. Unfortunately, many patients who would benefit from a lung transplant sadly die before suitable donor lungs become available. The shortage of organ donors is made even more dramatic for those waiting for lung transplant as donor lungs are particularly delicate and are easily damaged by events that happen before their removal from the donor. This means that only 1 in 5 of the potential donor lungs available, currently used in lung transplants. (Source: http://www.hta.ac.uk/project/2554.asp)

THE TRANSPLANT: There are four main types of lung transplants. The first three depend on finding the right donor who has just died but has a healthy lung. The fourth type depends upon finding two healthy living donors. Your doctors will determine which type of lung transplant is best for you and your condition.

Single lung transplantation: Although you have two lungs, certain patients can live a normal, healthy, and active life with just one good lung. When a single lung transplant is done, one of your bad lungs is removed and a new healthy lung is put in its place.

Double lung transplantation: This operation involves taking both lungs out and replacing them with new lungs. Both lungs are replaced at the same time with two good lungs usually coming from the same organ donor.

Heart-lung transplantation: This operation involves taking out the heart and both lungs at the same time and putting in a new heart and two new lungs—all from the same donor. This is the rarest form of lung transplantation.

Living donor lobar transplantation: In this operation, two healthy living donors each give you one lobe (out of five normally present). Typically, both of your lungs are taken out and replaced with a right lower lobe from one donor, and a left lower lobe from the other donor. This operation is usually done on patients who are either in rapid decline, or are so ill that they will not be able to get through a successful transplant from a deceased donor. (Source: American Society of Transplantation)

NEW TECHNOLOGY: A new technology attempts to make the transplant process easier and to make sure the lungs are in good condition before transplant. The "ex vivo" or outside-the-body approach involved removing lungs from a deceased donor, then enclosing them inside a transparent dome and connecting them to a cardiopulmonary pump and a ventilator. For four hours, the lungs were infused with nutrients and antibiotics. They were gradually warmed to body temperature, ventilated and oxygenated — a process that resembles breathing, with the lungs inflating and deflating. Once determined to be viable, the lungs were immediately transplanted into the patients. Currently, fewer than 30 percent of donor lungs are acceptable for transplantation, but physicians say ex vivo has the potential to double this figure as the reconditioning process is refined and improved.

The recent transplants at NewYork-Presbyterian/Columbia are part of an ongoing FDA investigational multicenter clinical research trial designed to compare outcomes from lung transplants using the ex vivo technique with those using the traditional method. This investigational trial, currently taking place in the United States, is coordinated and funded by Vitrolife, makers of the ex vivo perfusion system. (Source: New York Presbyterian/Columbia) MORE

Breathing Life into Lung Transplants! -- Research Summary | Medical News and Health Information

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Breathing Life into Lung Transplants! -- In Depth Doctor's Interview | Medical News and Health Information