The Annals of Thoracic Surgery, Vol 56, 972-975, Copyright © 1993 by The Society of Thoracic Surgeons
Sequential bilateral lung transplantation for pulmonary alveolar microlithiasis
G Stamatis, HR Zerkowski, N Doetsch, D Greschuchna, N Konietzko and JC Reidemeister
Center for Pneumology and Thoracic Surgery, Ruhrlandklinik, Essen, Germany.
Lung transplantation has been successfully used in the treatment of
patients with end-stage pulmonary disease and adequate cardiac function. We
report about a 32-year-old man with pulmonary alveolar microlithiasis who
underwent sequential bilateral lung transplantation. Preoperative
hemodynamic studies revealed severe pulmonary hypertension; the right
ventricular ejection fraction was 0.27. Eighteen months postoperatively, he
continues to do well with normalized pulmonary and cardiac function and
without clinical or histopathologic signs of graft rejection.