Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion: Past, Present, and Future.

Lung transplant is the only therapy for several end-stage lung diseases; however, the number of donated lungs suitable for transplant is not sufficient, and hundreds of patients have died waiting for an organ. Ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) has emerged as a new technology with the potential of reconditioning human donor lungs previously unsuitable for transplantation. Since the first successful transplant of a lung treated using EVLP in the year 2000, multiple clinical trials have demonstrated, in several transplant centers around the word, the feasibility and the potential of EVLP to increase the total number of lungs available for transplant.