title: Unilateral lung transplantation in end-stage pulmonary emphysema.
abstract: Patients with end-stage pulmonary emphysema are usually proposed for either heart-lung or double-lung transplantation. The single-lung transplantation is reversed for patients with pulmonary fibrosis. Patients with emphysema are thought to be unsuitable for single-lung transplantation because of the ventilation-perfusion imbalance that is supposed to occur, the ventilation being preferentially distributed to the native lung when the perfusion is distributed to the transplanted lung. We now report a preliminary success with single-lung transplantation in two consecutive patients with end-stage pulmonary emphysema. Despite the persistence after transplantation of an obstructive syndrome, the clinical status was good, the blood gases were markedly improved, and ventilation-perfusion imbalance did not occur on lung scans. After discharge from the hospital, the patients could return to an almost normal life. Thus, our data support the feasibility of single-lung transplantation in patients with end-stage pulmonary emphysema, and we consider that single-lung transplantation could be the optimal form of lung transplantation in these patients.
authors.affiliation: Service de Pneumologie et Réanimation, Hôpital Beaujon, Clichy, France.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mal
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Andreassian
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Pamela
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Duchatelle
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Rondeau
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dubois
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Baldeyrou
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kitzis
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Sleiman
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pariente
mesh_terms: D006801:Humans; D008168:Lung / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging; D016040:Lung Transplantation; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011656:Pulmonary Emphysema / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000601:surgery*; D011859:Radiography; D011877:Radionuclide Imaging