Successful single-lung transplantation after paraquat intoxication

Severe acute lung injury frequently develops after poisoning by paraquat, and respiratory failure is the major cause of death in patients surviving more than 2 days after ingestion. We describe a 17-year-old man with confirmed paraquat intoxication by lung and muscle biopsy, in whom single-lung transplantation was performed 44 days after poisoning for end-stage lung disease. The patient was discharged from the hospital 122 days after ingestion of paraquat and 88 days after lung transplantation. Before 1996, repeated lung transplantation had been performed for patients with terminal respiratory insufficiency due to paraquat toxicity, but all died. This patient survived probably because transplantation was performed very late after paraquat ingestion.