[Lung transplantation results: does a learning curve exist?]

Lung transplantation is an established procedure for end-stage non malignant respiratory disorders. Lung transplantation involves multidisciplinary skills and expertise and one can question the ability of small units to achieve successfully such a demanding therapy. We report here the results from the Lausanne unit of the Geneva-Lausanne lung transplantation center. We have compared the 1993 to 1996 and the 1997-2000 period. For the 29 lung transplantions performed the actuarial survival was 75% at 3 years and 72% at 5 years. There was no significant difference in survival or in functional status between the two periods. We conclude that despite the small number of patients treated, these results compare favourably with published international data. In particular, no learning curve effect was observed.