Improved survival after living-donor lobar lung transplantation.
OBJECTIVE
Survival after living-donor lobar lung transplantation has been reported to be similar to that after cadaveric lung transplantation. The purpose of this study was to summarize our 5-year experience of living-donor lobar lung transplantation for critically ill patients.


METHODS
Between October 1998 and April 2004, we performed living-donor lobar lung transplantation in 30 critically ill patients with various lung diseases, including 5 (17%) patients on a ventilator. Mean age was 30.4 years (range, 8-55 years). Postoperative management included slow weaning from a ventilator, relatively low-dose immunosuppressants, and careful rejection monitoring on the basis of radiographic and clinical findings without transbronchial lung biopsy.


RESULTS
The average duration of mechanical ventilation was 15.4 days, intensive care unit stay was 23.5 days, and hospital stay was 64.6 days. Clinically judged acute rejection occurred at an average rate of 1.5 episodes per patient, but infection occurred in only one patient during the first month. In spite of the complicated postoperative course, all patients were discharged without oxygen inhalation. Four patients had unilateral bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome, but the decrease in their forced expiratory volume in 1 second values stopped within 9 months. All 30 recipients are currently alive, with a follow-up period of 1 to 66 months. All donors have returned to their previous lifestyles.


CONCLUSIONS
Living-donor lobar lung transplantation can be applied to both pediatric and adult patients with very limited life expectancies. It might provide better survival than conventional cadaveric lung transplantation.
Date
Hiroshi
H
Departments of Cancer and Thoracic Surgery, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine and Dentistry, 2-5-1 Shikata-cho, Okayama 700-8558, Japan. hdate@nigeka2.hospital.okayama-u.ac.jp
Aoe
Motoi
M
Sano
Yoshifumi
Y
Nagahiro
Itaru
I
Miyaji
Katsumasa
K
Goto
Keiji
K
Kawada
Masaaki
M
Sano
Shunji
S
Shimizu
Nobuyoshi
N
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D002648:Child; D016572:Cyclosporine / Q000097:blood; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006976:Hypertension, Pulmonary / Q000601:surgery; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D019520:Living Donors; D008171:Lung Diseases / Q000601:surgery*; D017563:Lung Diseases, Interstitial / Q000601:surgery; D016040:Lung Transplantation / Q000401:mortality* / Q000502:physiology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D018579:Patient Selection; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D016559:Tacrolimus / Q000097:blood
D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D016572:Cyclosporine; D016559:Tacrolimus