Clinical Outcomes of Heart-Lung Transplantation: Review of 10 Single-Center Consecutive Patients

Prognosis factors in heart-lung transplantation: 30 years experience in a reference center

INTRODUCTION

Heart-lung transplantation has shown a progressive decrease in the number of procedures. There is a lack of information about this field in Spain. The main goal of this study is to analyze the experience of a national reference hospital.

METHODS

We performed a retrospective study of a historical cohort of heart-lung transplanted patients in a single center, during a 30 years period (from 1990 to 2021). The associations between variables were evaluated using the χ2 test or Fisher's exact test. Survival was analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier method. Differences were evaluated using the log-rank test and multivariate analysis with the Cox method.

RESULTS

A decrease in the number of procedures performed in the last decade was observed [2000-2009: 19 procedures (44.2%); 2010-2021: 15 procedures (34.8%)]. Early postoperative mortality was 23.3%, falling to 13.3% from 2010. In-hospital mortality was 41%, falling to 33% from 2010. Main factors related to higher mortality: previous thoracic surgery, corticosteroid therapy, extracorporeal circulation (ECLS) greater than 200 min, ischemia time greater than 300 min, and tracheal dehiscence (p < 0.005). Overall survival at one, five, and ten years was 58%, 44.7%, and 36.1%, respectively. Factors associated with lower survival rates: previous thoracic surgery, male donor, extracorporeal circulation greater than 200 min, ischemia time greater than 300 min, tracheal dehiscence and weight difference (p < 0.005).

CONCLUSIONS

There has been a progressive decrease in the number of heart-lung transplantations, being more evident in the last decade, but showing an improvement in both mortality and survival.

Clinical Outcomes of Lung Transplantation: Experience at Asan Medical Center

Background

Lung transplantation is a life-saving procedure in patients with end-stage lung disease, and is increasingly performed in Korea.

Methods

We retrospectively evaluated the outcomes of patients who received a lung transplant at Asan Medical Center between January 2008 and December 2016. Thirteen of 54 patients experienced multiorgan transplantation; the remaining 41 who received only lung grafts were included.

Results

The mean age of the lung transplant recipients was 44.6 years; 27 were men and 14 were women. The most frequent reasons were idiopathic interstitial pneumonia (21 of 41 patients, 51.2%), interstitial lung disease (9 of 41, 22.0%), and bronchiolitis obliterans after bone marrow transplantation (7 of 41, 17.1%). The median waiting time was 47 days, and many patients received preoperative intensive care (27 of 41, 65.9%), ventilator support (26 of 41, 63.4%), or extracorporeal life support (19 of 41, 46.3%). All 41 patients received bilateral lung grafts. Ten deaths occurred (24.3%), including 5 cases of early mortality (12.2%) and 5 cases of late mortality (12.2%). The 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival rates were 78.9%, 74.2%, and 69.3%, respectively.

Conclusion

Despite a high percentage of patients who required preoperative intensive care, the transplantation outcomes were acceptable.