Lung Transplant News and Research

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A pulmonary transplant (or lung transplant) is a surgical procedure in which a diseased lung is removed and replaced with a healthy lung from a donor. A lung transplant will often be recommended if a person has advanced lung disease that is unresponsive to other treatments and/or when a person's life expectancy is likely less than 2-3 years. A lung transplant is considered for those suffering from the following conditions:

Gene key to excessive cell proliferation could be a potential target for fatal pulmonary hypertension

A gene that is overexpressed in some aggressive cancers also appears to be key to the excessive cell proliferation that thickens the walls of pulmonary arteries and ultimately causes the right ventricle of the heart to fail, scientists report.

16 Dec 2021

Researchers receive $22 million grant for clinical trial that aims to reduce lung transplant rejection

Physicians at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis and Massachusetts General Hospital/Harvard Medical School in Boston have received a seven-year, $22 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health to help lead a multicenter clinical trial evaluating whether a novel immunosuppressant can reduce the risk of organ rejection after a lung transplant.

18 Nov 2021

Hassenfeld Children's Hospital at NYU Langone performs first-ever pediatric lung transplant

Surgeons at Hassenfeld Children's Hospital at NYU Langone and the NYU Langone Transplant Institute reached a historic milestone when they used a lung transplant to treat a 16-year-old girl with cystic fibrosis whose organs were irreversibly damaged.

1 Nov 2021

Researchers employ novel algorithm to identify candidate cancer drugs for pulmonary hypertension

By combining computational and experimental approaches, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Prairie View A&M University researchers identified cancer drugs that show promise for treating pulmonary hypertension, or PH, a rare and incurable lung disease.

21 Oct 2021

Organ centers to transplant patients: Get a covid shot or move down on waitlist

A Colorado kidney transplant candidate who was bumped to inactive status for failing to get a covid-19 vaccine has become the most public example of an argument roiling the nation's more than 250 organ transplant centers.

8 Oct 2021

Study identifies cells that may play a pivotal role in fibrotic scarring after lung transplant

A lung transplant can mean the difference between life and death for people with diseases such as pulmonary fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and even severe COVID-19.

8 Oct 2021

Teen’s mysterious condition spurs the opening of Childhood Interstitial Lung Disease Clinic

Thirteen-year-old Gregory Rhoden's condition has been a mystery his entire life. He was born prematurely and his lungs seemed underdeveloped.

7 Oct 2021

A possible protective genetic polymorphism in COVID-19

A new study discusses the role of a mucin gene enhancer on the clinical phenotype of the COVID-19.

5 Oct 2021

Electronic nose can detect chronic allograft dysfunction with 86% accuracy

An electronic "nose" is capable of detecting with 86% accuracy when a lung transplant is beginning to fail, according to research presented at the 'virtual' European Respiratory Society International Congress today.

6 Sep 2021

UC San Diego Health performed region’s first double lung transplant for a COVID-19 patient

On a July afternoon, Federico Gomez Gil, 56, is dressed in a short-sleeved, collared shirt, sweatpants and a baseball cap. He sits in a chair in a hospital room, surrounded by his wife and two daughters. Given the past five months, this is the moment of a lifetime — a new lifetime.

24 Aug 2021

Getting a covid vaccine during pregnancy even more urgent as ICU beds fill up

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is doubling down on its recommendation that people who are pregnant get the covid-19 vaccine, in light of new data underscoring its safety and effectiveness throughout pregnancy.

12 Aug 2021

How do immunocompromised patients respond to COVID-19 vaccines?

The COVID-19 vaccines produce a boost in antibody activity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). However, new research suggests vaccine responses aren’t all created equal. Their findings showed that immunocompromised patients, such as transplant recipients, with no prior exposure to SARS-CoV-2 produce little to no neutralizing antibodies.

18 Jul 2021

COVID-19 vaccination induces highly variable immunity among the immunocompromised

Researchers in the United States have conducted a study showing that the humoral (antibody) immunity induced by vaccination against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) – the agent that causes coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) – varies significantly among immunocompromised individuals.

4 Jul 2021

Nanoparticle-based therapy alleviates pulmonary hypertension in mouse model of rare lung disease

The disease is so rare and complex that its acronym is hard to pronounce. But for infants unlucky enough to be born with this lung disease, the outcome is usually fatal.

14 Jun 2021

Study may lead to personalized treatments for cystic fibrosis

Some 2,103 mutations have been identified in patients with cystic fibrosis (CF), the most common fatal genetic disease in Canada, and together they pose huge challenges for patients and researchers, including those affiliated with Université de Montreal and its teaching hospital, the Centre hospitalier de l'Université de Montréal (CHUM).

7 May 2021

UHN performed first double-lung transplant after COVID-19 in Canada

University Health Network has performed what is believed to be the first lung transplant in Canada on a patient whose lungs were irreparably damaged by COVID-19.

12 Apr 2021

First general selection criteria for lung transplantation in Covid-19 patients

In May 2020, a team led by thoracic surgeon Konrad Hoetzenecker of the Department of Surgery of MedUni Vienna and Vienna General Hospital performed a lung transplant on a 44-year-old patient who had been seriously ill with Covid-19, making her the first patient in Europe to receive a lung transplant for this indication.

2 Apr 2021

New technique traces genetic and epigenetic origins of DNA to reveal hidden cancers

A new technique that can trace which tissues and organs the DNA in our blood comes from has been reported today in the open-access eLife journal.

24 Mar 2021

Progesterone therapy may improve clinical outcomes for male COVID-19 patients

COVID-19 disproportionately affects men compared with women, raising the possibility that a hormone like progesterone may improve clinical outcomes for certain hospitalized men with the disease.

18 Mar 2021

Push is on for states to ban organ transplant discrimination

Griffin Dalrymple is an energetic 7-year-old who loves going to school in Eureka, Montana. But two years ago, the boy described by his mother, Jayci, as a "ball of fire" was suddenly knocked back by severe bacterial pneumonia that hospitalized him for two weeks.

8 Mar 2021