Lung transplantation from out-of-hospital non-heart-beating lung donors. one-year experience and results.

There is currently no method for preservation and functional evaluation of clinical out-of-hospital non-heart-beating lung donors (NHBLD) that can be applied practically and systematically in clinical lung transplantation programs. A new method of preservation and functional evaluation of the lung has been developed in NHBLD that is based on the knowledge of various experimental studies. Initially, the viability of lungs harvested this way was proved from preliminary functional and histologic tests. In November 2002, we started using lung allografts from non-heart-beating donors. Five lung transplantations (4 bipulmonary and 1 unipulmonary) were performed successfully. The short and mid-term results have been excellent and all recipients are alive. We report our initial experience, which we hope will be of help to those involved in clinical lung transplantation programs worldwide.