Pediatric Lung Transplantation

Patel, Anand; Faro, Albert

Lung transplantation is considered the last therapeutic resource for children with life threatening end-stage lung disease, but it is also a lifelong commitment to a complex clinical follow-up. The main indications in childhood are pulmonary hypertension in infancy and cystic fibrosis in children and adolescents. Contraindications are absolute and relative and often vary from one to another transplant program. Multi-organ disorders, active malignancy, and specific active infection are general agreed upon contraindications. Only 21% of organ donors had suitable lungs for transplant. Although immunosuppressive regimens vary, most lung transplant centers use induction to avoid early acute rejection. The postoperative period is not only crucial for early detection of complications, such as infections and rejection, but also in the long term when gastrointestinal and neurological complications may compromise up to 50% of the patients. One year survival rate is around 85%, and 3 year survival is around 65%. Long-term survival is determined primarily by the development of bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS), so it is important to plan better therapeutic regimes to preserve graft function.