Organ preservation for heart-lung and lung transplantation

One of the most important restrictions in the field of heart-lung- and lung-transplantation remains the limited ischemic tolerance of the lung. From December 1987 through February 1991, 44 patients underwent either single-, double-, or heart-lung-transplantation. All organs were harvested in multiorgan procedures. For the first 4 patients core cooling of the donor was used. For the rest pulmonary artery flush with modified Euro-Collins solution and prostacyclin was employed. Ischemia time varied from 3-6.5 hours (mean 241; 176-390 minutes). Hearts were arrested with St. Thomas cardioplegia. Oxygenation was satisfactory at 24 hours: p O2 greater than 100 mmHg, FI O2 less than 30% oxygen. It is concluded that for lung preservation modified Euro-Collins solution and prostacyclin for flush perfusion of the pulmonary artery will result in excellent lung function early postoperatively with ischemic times up to 6.5 hours. This method seems advantageous compared to others due to the limited surgical and instrumental needs.