Anaesthesia for patients with transplanted hearts and lungs undergoing non-cardiac surgery

Heart and lung transplantation is now accepted as a means of treating some end-stage cardiopulmonary diseases. These patients may present with a wide variety of non-cardiopulmonary conditions requiring anaesthesia and surgery, possibly at a place distant from their original transplant centre. In general, for much elective, acute or even emergency surgery, if the allograft is functioning satisfactorily, these patients should present few problems during anaesthesia, provided the anaesthetist has some understanding of the pathophysiology of the transplanted organ and recognizes the differences (potential and specific to cardiopulmonary transplantation) between such patients and any other subject.