Quality of life can be moderately to substantially improved by lung transplantation, and life may be extended beyond your life expectancy prior to transplantation. It is impossible to predict how long you may survive after transplantation. The most critical period for survival, of a patient and of the donor lung(s), is the first year after transplantation; this is the period when surgical complications, rejection, and infection (see "Risks") are the greatest threat to survival. Patients who survive the first year are more likely to survive 3 years or longer after transplantation. There are patients alive today who had lung transplantation 5 or even more years ago.

Each lung transplant center has survival statistics for its transplantation programs. These statistics are available from the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS)

Types of Transplant:
Single Lung or Double Lung
The transplant team's assessment of your medical needs and the availability of donor lungs are considered in determining whether one or both lungs should be transplanted.

Heart-Lungs
Both lungs and the heart are replaced when the heart has been chronically "overworked" and weakened by long-term lung disease such as emphysema.

Risks:
Life expectancy after lung transplantation is shorter than for heart, liver, or kidney transplantation, particularly for PPH patients. Rejection and infection are the two major complications of lung transplantation. Immunosuppressive (antirejection) medications prescribed by your doctors will help keep the rejection process "turned off." Other medications may be necessary to control and treat rejection if your immune system breaks through the immunosuppressive blockade. Following your doctors' orders and taking all medications as prescribed help to prevent or control rejection.

Because you will be taking immunosuppressive medications, your immune system will be less able to fight off invading bacteria and viruses. You will be much more susceptible to infection, and infections are more likely to become severe.
 

Recent items from the PHCentral Newsroom:

• University of Maryland Malpractice Lawsuit Filed Over Surgical Mistake
  (ABOUT LAW SUITS .COM) -- A medical malpractice lawsuit has been filed against University of Maryland Medical Center by the family of a man who died when a staffer at the hospital accidentally removed a clamp after lung transplant surgery, draining all of his blood.
   
• Right but not left ventricular function recovers early after living-donor lobar lung transplantation in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension
  (The American Association for Thoracic Surgery ) -- The aim of this study was to evaluate right and left ventricular functions in patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension after living-donor lobar lung transplantation compared with those without hypertension.
   
• Double-lung transplants better than single-lung, Hopkins study finds
  (Examiner) -- Lung transplant recipients who received two lungs are twice as likely to be alive ten years later than those who receive only one, researchers at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine have reported.
   
• OSU suspends lagging lung-transplant program
  (Columbus Dispatch) -- Surgeons are performing so few lung transplants at Ohio State University Medical Center that hospital leaders have decided to halt its lung-transplant program and figure out a way to revive it.
   

For Additional Information Visit:

• The American College of Chest Physicians Lung Transplant Resources
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• The ACCP Guide to Lung Transplantation
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• The International Society for Heart & Lung Transplantation
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• United Network for Organ Sharing
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August 2009 - Page reviewed and updated.