Double-lung transplant for advanced chronic obstructive lung disease.

We have achieved repeated success with unilateral lung transplantation for pulmonary fibrosis and have developed an en bloc, double-lung transplant procedure for patients with advanced lung disease of an obstructive or infective nature. Six such procedures have now been performed for end-stage emphysema, and all recipients are alive and well 5 to 15 months later. A seventh transplant for primary pulmonary hypertension was unsuccessful. All recipients were judged to have a life expectancy of 12 to 18 months on the basis of the degree of disability and the documented rate of disease progression. We feel the double-lung procedure is more appropriate than the combined heart-lung transplant for patients requiring replacement of both lungs when right heart function is adequate or deemed recoverable. With this procedure, the recipient is able to retain his or her own heart, avoiding the liabilities associated with cardiac transplantation. Furthermore, the donor heart is available for a separate recipient, and this sharing of the heart and lungs greatly increases the supply of transplantable lungs for patients with end-stage lung disease. Ischemia of the donor airway has been a source of complication, including the one death to date, but this appears to be a surmountable problem.