Your doctor may recommend a lung transplant if you have severe lung disease that's getting worse. If your condition is so serious that other treatments don't work, a lung transplant may be the only option.
Lung transplants most often are used to treat people who have severe:
Lung transplants are done in large hospitals where the staff has a lot of organ transplant experience. If you need a lung transplant, you must apply to a center's transplant program.
Transplant teams at the lung transplant center manage all parts of the center's transplant program. Transplant team members may include a:
Other team members may include a social worker, psychiatrist, financial coordinator, and other specialists and medical personnel, such as a nutritionist and nurses.
The transplant team will need to find out whether you're a candidate for a lung transplant. They will want to make sure you're healthy enough to have the surgery and go through a recovery program.
To do this, they will ask about your medical history. The team will want to know whether you have other serious illnesses or conditions, such as cancer, HIV, or hepatitis. They also will ask whether you've had a major chest surgery. A previous chest surgery may make it hard to do a lung transplant.
The team also will want to know whether you smoke or use alcohol or drugs.
You also will have tests to show whether you're healthy enough for a lung transplant. Tests may include:
You'll talk with team members to make sure you're mentally and emotionally willing to accept the risks of the transplant process and later treatment. The team may ask whether you have a good support network of family and friends.
If you get into a medical center's transplant program, you'll be placed on the National Organ Transplant & Tissue Organization's (NOTTO's) & TNOS national and state waiting list. Your transplant team will work with you to make sure you're ready for the transplant if a donor lung becomes available.
Waiting for a donor lung can be frustrating. However, you can do several things to prepare.
While you wait for a lung, you may feel worried, scared, anxious, or depressed. These feelings are normal in this situation. Talk with your health care team about how you feel. They can offer tips for coping with your emotions. Family and friends also can offer support.
NOTTO or TNOS matches donor lungs to recipients based on need. NOTTO or TNOS will consider how severe a person's disease is and how quickly it's worsening. NOTTO or TNOS also will consider whether the transplant
will improve the recipient's chances of survival, and by how much.
Organs are matched for blood type and the size of the donor lung and the recipient.
If NOTTO or TNOS and your transplant center
think they have a good match for you, the center will ask you to come in as soon as possible.
Once you arrive, your team will do tests to make sure you're healthy enough to have the surgery and that
the lung is a good match, the team will prepare you for surgery.
Just before lung transplant surgery, you will get general anesthesia (AN-es-THE-ze-ah). The term "anesthesia" refers to a loss of feeling and awareness. With general anesthesia, you will be asleep during the surgery and not feel any pain.
Once
you're asleep, your doctors will make a small incision (cut) in your chest. Next, they will insert a central venous catheter into a vein. This tube allows easy access to your bloodstream. Doctors use
it to deliver fluids and medicines to your body.
Your doctors also will insert a tube in your mouth and down your windpipe to help you breathe. They also will insert a tube in your nose and down
to your stomach to drain contents from your stomach. A catheter will be used to keep your bladder empty.
The surgeon will make a cut in your chest to open it. He or she will then cut the main airway
to your diseased lung and the blood vessels connecting your lung to your heart.
The surgeon will remove your diseased lung and place the donor organ in your chest. Then the surgeon will connect the
main airway of the donor lung to your airway and its blood vessels to your heart.
If you're having a double-lung transplant, you may be connected to a heart-lung bypass machine. This machine takes
over for your heart and pumps oxygen-rich blood to your body.
During a double-lung transplant, the surgeon will remove your diseased lungs, one at a time, and replace them with the donor lungs.
A
single-lung transplant usually takes 4 to 8 hours. A double-lung transplant usually takes 6 to 12 hours.
Some people may need a heart–lung transplant. A heart–lung transplant is surgery in which
both the heart and lung(s) are replaced with healthy organs from a deceased donor. For this surgery, you're connected to a heart-lung bypass machine.
Recovery in the Hospital
After lung transplant surgery, you'll go to the hospital's intensive care unit (ICU) for at least several days. The tubes that were inserted before surgery will remain for a few days.
The tube in your
windpipe helps you breathe. Other tubes deliver medicines to, and drain fluids from, your body. You also will have sticky patches called electrodes attached to your chest to monitor your heart.
After
leaving the ICU, you'll go to a hospital room. The staff will carefully oversee your recovery.
You'll be taught how to do deep breathing exercises with an incentive spirometer (spi-ROM-eh-ter). This
hand-held device helps you take slow, deep breaths. You also may have lung function tests that use a regular spirometer. This device measures how much air your lungs can hold. It also measures how fast
you can blow air out of your lungs after taking a deep breath.
You'll need to cough often. Coughing helps clear fluids from your lungs so they can work well. A nurse will show you how to hold a pillow
tightly near your incision site while you cough to help decrease discomfort.
Your immune system will regard your new lung as a "foreign object." It will create antibodies (proteins) against the lung.
This may cause your body to reject the new organ. To prevent this, your doctor will prescribe medicines to suppress your immune system.
Because these medicines can weaken your immune system, you're
more likely to get an infection after the transplant. Your medical team will take steps to prevent infections while you're in the hospital.
On an average, people who have a lung transplant stay in
the hospital for 3 weeks. However, some people have complications and stay much longer.
Recovery After Leaving the Hospital
Before you leave the hospital, your medical team will teach you how to keep track of your overall health. You'll learn how to watch your weight and check your blood pressure, pulse, and temperature. Staff
also will show you how to check your lung function.
You'll also learn the signs of the two main complications of lung transplant surgery: rejection and infection. (For more information, go to
"What Are the Risks of Lung Transplant?")
For the first 3 months after surgery, you'll go to the hospital
often for blood tests, chest x rays, lung function tests, and other tests. After 3 months, if you're doing well, you'll visit less often.
Making healthy lifestyle choices is very important. Not smoking,
following a healthy diet, and following your doctor's advice or not using alcohol will help you recover and stay as healthy as possible.
A healthy diet includes a variety of fruits, vegetables, and
whole grains. It also includes lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, and fat-free or low-fat milk or milk products. A healthy diet is low in saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol, sodium (salt), and added
sugar.
Your doctor may recommend pulmonary rehabilitation (PR) after your lung transplant surgery. PR is a broad program that may include exercise training, education, counseling, and more.
Emotional Issues and Support
Having a lung transplant may cause fear, anxiety, and stress. While you're waiting for a lung transplant, you may worry that you won't live long enough to get a new lung. After surgery, you may feel overwhelmed,
depressed, or worried about complications.
All of these feelings are normal for someone going through major surgery. Talk about how you feel with your health care team. Talking to a professional
counsellor also can help. If you’re very depressed, your doctor may recommend medicines or other treatments that can improve your quality of life.
Support from family and friends also can help relieve
stress and anxiety. Let your loved ones know how you feel and what they can do to help you.
A lung transplant can improve your quality of life and extend your lifespan. The first year after the transplant is the most critical. This is when the risk of complications is highest.
In recent years, short-term survival after lung transplant has improved. Recent data on single-lung transplants show that:
Survival rates for double-lung transplants are slightly better. Recent data show that the median survival for single-lung recipients is 4.6 years. The median survival for double-lung recipients is 6.6 years. Talk with your doctor about what these figures may mean for you.
Complications
The major complications of lung transplant are rejection and infection.
Rejection
Your immune system will regard your new lung as a "foreign object." It will create antibodies (proteins) against the lung. This may cause your body to reject the new organ.
To prevent this, your doctor
will prescribe medicines to suppress your immune system. You’ll need to take these medicines for the rest of your life.
Rejection is most common in the first 6 months after surgery, but it can happen
any time after the transplant. Rejection can happen slowly or suddenly. Your doctor will teach you how to spot possible signs and symptoms of rejection. If you know these signs and symptoms, you can
seek treatment right away.
Signs and symptoms of rejection include:
If you have any of these signs or symptoms, seek medical care. Your doctor may prescribe medicines to treat the rejection and prevent complications.
These medicines may cause side effects, such as headaches, nausea (feeling sick to your stomach), and flu-like symptoms. If you have side effects, tell your doctor. He or she may change your medicines or adjust the doses.
Infection
The medicines you take to prevent the rejection of your new lung may weaken your immune system. As a result, you're more likely to get infections.
While you're in the hospital, staff will take special steps to prevent you from getting infections. After you leave the hospital, you also can take steps to prevent infections: