Current perspective of lung transplantation

ABSTRACT

Lung transplantation has become the standard of care for select patients with advanced lung diseases of various etiologies. A relatively scarce donor pool limits wider application of lung transplantation. Donor selection criteria, donor management protocols, and improvement in postoperative management have lead to improved overall survival with a median survival rate of 5.7 years. Bilateral lung transplantation has become the procedure of choice for most indications due to significantly better long term survival, especially in patients younger than 60 years. Proper management of donor organs may increase the utilization rate of scarce organs and through the increasing number of lung transplantation and improvement in postoperative management, many patients on the waiting list may achieve a new life after lung transplantation with excellent quality of life and long term survival.