The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol 54, 1189-1192, Copyright © 1992 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Pulmonary "twinning" procedure: use of lungs from one donor for single- lung transplantation in two recipients
DA Haydock, DE Low, EP Trulock, LR Kaiser, MK Pasque, E Molmenti and JD Cooper
Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO 63110.
Since the introduction of lung transplantation as an option for patients
with end-stage respiratory disease in the early 1980s, there have been
substantial advances made in the technical aspects of transplantation as
well as the early clinical results. With an ever- increasing number of
patients being designated suitable candidates for transplantation, the
volume of transplants in the foreseeable future will be limited more on the
basis of donor lung supply than any other single factor. Pulmonary
"twinning" provides an important step in ensuring that all suitable and
available donor lungs are utilized whenever feasible. This report reviews
the results of 20 single-lung transplantations carried out in five separate
transplantation centers using organs retrieved from ten donors. The overall
mortality rate in this group of patients was 5%, which compares very
favorably with historical controls. No serious problem was noted with
respect to increased perioperative morbidity or increased ischemic times in
this group of patients. We suggest that this process should be considered
and, wherever possible, adopted by all major lung transplant centers.
