Though many diseases affect the lungs, not all lung diseases are treated with a lung transplant. The most common diseases that lead to lung transplantation are cystic fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension, bronchiolitis obliterans and interstitial lung disease.
Other diseases that damage the lungs and can lead to transplant include:
Bronchiolitis obliterans (post-infectious, associated with Stevens Johnson syndrome, associated with bone marrow transplant and lung transplant)
Bronchopulmonary dysplasia without major co-morbidities
Chronic aspiration of gastric contents which will not recur
Chronic interstitial lung disease
Cystic fibrosis
Diffuse pulmonary arteriovenous shunt syndromes
End-stage bronchiectasis due to a treatable form of immunodeficiency
Surfactant protein dysfunction syndromes
Idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension
Pulmonary fibrosis after radiation therapy
Pulmonary fibrosis after severe pneumonia or adult respiratory distress syndrome
Pulmonary hemosiderosis
Pulmonary hypertension with associated congenital heart disease (if heart defect can be repaired at the time of transplant)
Pulmonary hypoplasia (under-development), either as an isolated condition or due to congenital diaphragmatic hernia or malformations of the lung or chest wall
Pulmonary veno-occlusive disease
Pulmonary vein stenosis, refractory to interventions
Other Conditions
A double lung, or bilateral, transplant is most common for infants, children and adolescents. In a double lung transplant, donor lungs come from a deceased donor who has been diagnosed with brain death. Bilateral or double lung transplant organs are matched by blood type and the height of the donor and recipient. Children ages 12 and older are listed with a lung score as well. The standard transplant surgery involves several hours of cardiopulmonary bypass (a heart-lung machine), and the surgery takes about 6 to 10 hours.
Some children with congenital heart disease develop pulmonary hypertension and have congenital heart defects that cannot be fixed with surgery. These children are potential candidates for pediatric heart-lung transplantation. Patients with severe liver and lung disease may also be candidates for lung-liver transplantations. Our comprehensive transplant program means you have access to our nationally recognized Heart Transplant Program and Liver Transplant Program if your child is a candidate for multi-organ transplant.
When a heart-lung transplant is required, the heart and lungs of a single donor are implanted together while the child is on cardiopulmonary bypass. The same surgeons who perform the isolated lung transplantation also perform this procedure.
In a lung-liver transplant, the lung transplant is done first and then a second surgical team joins the surgery and performs the liver transplant with a liver from the same donor. In this case, the surgery can extend to 10 hours or more.
