Stig Steen, MD, and colleagues at the University Hospital of Lund in Sweden reported on March 17 in The Lancet that, in the fall, they transplanted the right lung of a 54-year-old man who died following acute myocardial infarction into a 54-year-old woman whose chronic obstructive pulmonary disease had been symptomatic for 20 years (2001;357:825-829). The procedure is believed to be the first in which lungs were transplanted from a dead donor.
The authors described function of the transplanted lung as good during the first five postoperative months. However, the Associated Press reported on March 19 that the woman died of cytomegalovirus the day after the article was published. The Associated Press said that Dr. Steen considered the operation a success because the patient "did not die as a result of the transplant" and that "the transplanted lung worked to the very last."
Dr. Steen and colleagues reported in The Lancet that they started to cool the donor’s lung’s 65 minutes after death and removed them three hours after death. They estimated that lungs whose metabolic rate is reduced by cooling could survive at least 12 hours.
An accompanying editorial suggests that use of lungs from dead donors could "increase the donor pool in all countries," but achieving consensus for such procedures may be difficult. (2001;357:819-820). In its "Talking Points" column, the journal says: "Such an idea is fraught with ethical issues, since the procedure must combine prompt cooling of the lungs after a sudden cardiac death with the emotional needs of the next of kin, who will quite probably want to see the body."
Dr. Steen told the Associated Press he has permission to try the operation in eight more patients.
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