[Lung transplantation benefits for terminal lung diseases]

Lung transplantation is an established treatment of pulmonary diseases at an advanced stage. The purpose of our study is to present the benefits, indications and complications of this surgical procedure in the CHU of Liège. The cohort includes 14 patients transplanted between 2005 and 2009, and who were inserted in a pulmonary rehabilitation programme at the university hospital of Liège. The criteria of assessment are the values of respiratory function tests at rest and exercise, and quality of life. Inherent complications related to this type of surgical operation have been collected. We found a dramatic improvement in pulmonary function tests performed at rest both immediately after the transplantation and after 6 months. Likewise exercise capacity was already increased shortly after the transplantation and further improved 6 months later. As for health related quality of life, parameters that improved the most were dyspnoea and global quality of life, and the improvement was already maximal immediately after the transplantation. Our retrospective study confirms the data of the literature, namely an improvement of respiratory function, effort capacity and quality of life after lung transplantation.