Frailty in Lung Transplantation: Candidate Assessment and Optimization.

ABSTRACT

The concept of frailty has gained considerable interest in clinical solid-organ transplantation over the past decade. Frailty as a phenotypic construct to describe a patient's risk from biologic stresses has an impact on posttransplant survival. There is keen interest in characterizing frailty in lung transplantation, both to determine which patients are suitable candidates for listing and also to prepare for their care in the aftermath of lung transplantation. Here, we review the current status of research on frailty in lung transplant candidates and recipients. This review will highlight areas of uncertainty for frailty in clinical lung transplantation that are likely to impact the state-of-the-art in the field for the next decade.