Independent ventilation of the graft and native lungs in vivo after rat lung transplantation.

Rat lung transplantation is a proven experimental technique for the study of lung injury following lung transplantation. We have modified the surgical and ventilatory techniques to allow for independent ventilation in vivo of the transplanted graft and native lungs. This will provide additional data on the physiology and function of the transplanted graft and ameliorate the problem of progressive graft lung collapse and thereby allow for an improved model of ischemia-reperfusion injury and ventilator-induced lung injury in the setting of lung transplantation.