Pulmonary Medicine
- David R. Dantzker, MD;
- Harry Steinberg, MD
Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text.
Excerpt
In the last few years, there have been significant changes in our understanding of the pathophysiology and approach to treatment of a number of pulmonary disorders. In 1981, heart-lung transplantation was introduced as the first truly viable option for the long-term treatment of pulmonary hypertension secondary to primary pulmonary hypertension and Eisenmenger's syndrome. In the short time since then, breakthroughs in surgical techniques and the availability of cyclosporine have permitted a number of new transplantation techniques, including single-lung, double-lung, and now bilateral sequential lung transplants.
Single-lung replacement initially was recommended only for patients with end-stage interstitial lung disease. The transplant procedure improved overall function, and the use of only one lung simplified the surgical technique compared with heart-lung transplantation, lowering the perioperative morbidity and mortality and increasing the number of organs available for transplantation.
Initially, it was thought that a single-lung transplant would be inappropriate for patients with associated cor
