[Lung transplantation as a treatment method in terminal respiratory failure]

Lung transplantation is the last treatment for terminal respiratory failure due to irreversible pulmonary disease such as fibrosis and emphysema. In this paper we reported the results of our studies on three major problems for conducting clinical lung transplantation sefely, including lung preservation, early diagnosis of lung allograft rejection and bronchial anastomotic healing. We have developed a method for 48- and 96-hour lung preservation. Under simple hypothermic preservation using phosphate buffered solution resembling extracellular fluid, 48-hour storage of the lung becomes possible. Immunologic monitoring is feasible for early detection of postoperative rejection of the lung transplant. In this study subset and spontaneous blastogenesis of lymphocyte obtained from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid were measured in orthotopic rat lung allotransplantation. Lung allograft rejection is closely connected with wound healing of the bronchial anastomosis in lung transplantation. It seems that clinical applications of single and double lung transplantation is now possible for patients with terminal respiratory disease in our country.