HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Personal Folders Download to citation manager Author home page(s): Stefan Fischer Axel Haverich Martin Strüber Permission Requests Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Fischer, S. Articles by Strüber, M. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Fischer, S. Articles by Strüber, M. Related Collections Lung - transplantation

J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 2003;126:1641-1643
© 2003 The American Association for Thoracic Surgery

Brief communications

Should lungs from donors with severe acute pulmonary embolism be accepted for transplantation? The Hannover experience

^a Hannover Thoracic Transplant Program, Division of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany

Received for publication May 6, 2003; accepted for publication May 28, 2003.

^* Address for reprints: Dr Martin Strüber, Director, Hannover Thoracic Transplant Program, Division of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Hannover Medical School, Carl-Neuberg-Strasse 1, 30625 Hannover, Germany
strueber@thg.mh-hannover.de

The first 300 words of the full text of this article appear below.

Lung transplantation has evolved to an accepted treatment modality for patients suffering from end-stage lung disease. The number of listed patients waiting for a lung transplant is dramatically higher than the number of available donor organs, which contributes to a 1-year mortality on the waiting list of approximately 20% and of 40% after 2 years of listing.¹ Many strategies aiming for an increase of donor organs have been discussed controversially and are partially under clinical examination, such as the utilization of lungs from non–heart-beating donors² or the concept of living-related lung transplantation.³ Other approaches to the problem are even more experimental, such as pulmonary xenotransplantation. During the 2003 annual meeting, The International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation discussed the issue of redefining current lung donor criteria and the concept of using marginal donor organs for selected recipients in a main session. Many groups presented their outcomes following lung transplantation using lungs from donors who were heavy smokers,⁴ from donors with onset of fatal asthma,⁵ or from elderly donors up to 77 years of age.⁶ One major consensus of this intense discussion, however, was that some donors are still considered as inadequate for lung donation, such as patients who show signs of severe pneumonia or aspiration as well as those who died from fulminant pulmonary embolism.

Here, we report on 3 cases in which lung grafts from patients with fatal severe acute pulmonary embolism were successfully transplanted. We further describe a novel strategy of in situ retrograde lung flush perfusion that we are routinely using in our clinical program now, which is of special importance for lung graft retrieval from donors with acute pulmonary embolism.

Clinical summary

Between January 2001 and March 2003 lung grafts from 3 multiorgan donors who died from hypoxia due to severe pulmonary embolism were allocated by EuroTransplant . . . [Full Text of this Article]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				M. Shihata, N. Ghorpade, D. Lien, and D. Modry Ex Vivo Bilateral Pulmonary Embolectomy for Donor Lungs Prior to Transplantation Ann. Thorac. Surg., June 1, 2008; 85(6): 2110 - 2112. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. Padilla, C. Jorda, J. C. Penalver, J. Ceron, J. Escriva, and F. Vera-Sempere Donor Fat Embolism and Primary Graft Dysfunction After Lung Transplantation Ann. Thorac. Surg., August 1, 2007; 84(2): e4 - e5. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				T. Oto, M. Rabinov, A. P. Griffiths, H. Whitford, B. J. Levvey, D. S. Esmore, T. J. Williams, and G. I. Snell Unexpected donor pulmonary embolism affects early outcomes after lung transplantation: A major mechanism of primary graft failure? J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg., November 1, 2005; 130(5): 1446 - 1446. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]