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Updated: Aug 12, 2026
Rat Heterotopic Abdominal Heart/Single-lung Transplantation in a Volume-loaded Configuration
Published on: May 29, 2015
Heart-lung transplantation for primary pulmonary hypertension
R I Whyte1, R C Robbins, J Altinger
1Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Stanford University, California 94305, USA. riwhyte@leland.stanford.edu
Background:
The operation of choice for primary pulmonary hypertension remains controversial, as heart-lung transplantation, single-lung transplantation, and double-lung transplantation have all been advocated.
Methods:
We reviewed our institution's experience with heart-lung transplantation for primary pulmonary hypertension.
Results:
Thirty-nine patients had heart-lung transplantation for primary pulmonary hypertension. Operative mortality rate was 18%, and actuarial survival was 72% at 1 year, 67% at 2 years, and 42% at 5 years. Freedom from obliterative bronchiolitis was 91% at 1 year, 83% at 2 years, and 70% at 5 years. Freedom from obliterative bronchiolitis-related death was 100% at 1 year, 90% at 2 years, and 87% at 5 years. Freedom from accelerated graft coronary disease was 92% at 5 years. The most frequent causes of death were infection, obliterative bronchiolitis, and accelerated graft coronary disease.
Conclusions:
Heart-lung transplantation results in survival comparable to that reported for single or double lung transplantation. Obliterative bronchiolitis is a significant cause of late death but seems to occur less frequently with heart-lung transplantation than with lung transplantation alone. Accelerated coronary graft disease is rare in the first 5 years after transplantation.
