Recent Advances in Lung Transplantation: Innovations Shaping the Next Era

Lung transplantation (LTx) has undergone rapid advancement over the last 2 decades. Once-limiting barriers, such as restricted donor availability, high perioperative risk, and uncertain long-term graft survival, are now being challenged by innovations that span multiple domains. Evolving donor evaluation and management practices combined with modern preservation techniques have significantly improved the quality and quantity of LTx. Updated organ allocation frameworks and broader recipient selection strategies have improved efficiency, equity, and access to LTx. Refined perioperative strategies and surgical approaches have reduced postoperative complications and improved early functional recovery. In the posttransplant setting, novel biomarkers, standardized immunosuppression regimens, improved infection prophylaxis, and machine learning-based models allow for earlier detection of graft injury, prolonged graft survival, and personalized predictive models of long-term outcomes.