Lung Transplantation

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Basics

• Summary
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• Prevention and Risk Factors
• Treatments and Therapies

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Research

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• Clinical Trials
• Journal Articles

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Summary

A lung transplant removes a person's diseased lung and replaces it with a healthy one. The healthy lung comes from a donor who has died. Some people get one lung during a transplant. Other people get two.

Lung transplants are used for people who are likely to die from lung disease within 1 to 2 years. Their conditions are so severe that other treatments, such as medicines or breathing devices, no longer work. Lung transplants most often are used to treat people who have severe:

• COPD
• Cystic fibrosis
• Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
• Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency
• Pulmonary hypertension

Complications of lung transplantation include rejection of the transplanted lung and infection.

NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute

Start Here

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• Lung Transplant (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research) Also in Spanish

Prevention and Risk Factors

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• Preventing Rejection (United Network for Organ Sharing)

Treatments and Therapies

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• Lung Disease Treatments (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute)

Images

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• Heart-lung transplant - series (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish
• Lung transplant - series (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish

Statistics and Research

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• The SRTR/OPTN Annual Data Report (Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients)

Clinical Trials

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• ClinicalTrials.gov: Lung Transplantation (National Institutes of Health)

Journal Articles References and abstracts from MEDLINE/PubMed (National Library of Medicine)

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• Article: Emergence of a senescent and inflammatory pulmonary CD4(+) T cell population...
• Article: Safety of Everolimus in Lung Transplant Recipients Undergoing Surveillance Bronchoscopy with...
• Article: Socioeconomic Differences in Navigating Access to Lung Transplant.
• Lung Transplantation -- see more articles

Reference Desk

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• How the Lungs Work (National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute) Also in Spanish

Find an Expert

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• National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
• Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network (Health Resources and Services Administration)

Patient Handouts

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• Lung transplant (Medical Encyclopedia) Also in Spanish