lung transplantation

Question

Hello,
My brother had a lung transplants for CF five years ago, and he had a chronic graft dysfunction for one year.
He is on the waiting list for a new transplantation. Is there a lot of patients who have been transplanted twice (for the lung) ? Do you think he will wait for a long time on the waiting list? Is there a kind of priority for patients who never benefited of this surgery?

Answer

Dear questioner

The number of cystic fibrosis patients who are on the waiting list for a second lung transplantation is very poor. Only a few patients are concerned as shown by the numbers given by the French “agence de la biomédecine » for 2010 :
82 cystic fibrosis patients had lung transplantation.
For 1 of these 82 patients, it was a second lung transplantation.
The 1rst January 2010, only two patients were on the waiting list for a second lung transplantation.
During 2010, 74 cystic fibrosis patients were registered on the waiting list. For 2 of them it was for a second lung transplantation.

The only priority on the waiting list is the severity level of patient. An already transplanted patient will pass neither before, neither after a non transplanted patient. It will be his respiratory severity which will be determinant. When a graft can be given to two patient receivers, it is the most seriousness patient who is called.
Waiting is always long.
Good luck.

Sincerely yours

Dr Isabelle Danner-Boucher

01.12.2011