Skip to main content

Main menu

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Ahead of print
    • Archive
  • Info for
    • Authors
    • Reviewers
  • About Us
    • About the Ochsner Journal
    • Editorial Board
  • More
    • Alerts
    • Feedback
  • Other Publications
    • Ochsner Journal Blog

User menu

  • My alerts
  • Log in

Search

  • Advanced search
Ochsner Journal
  • Other Publications
    • Ochsner Journal Blog
  • My alerts
  • Log in
Ochsner Journal

Advanced Search

  • Home
  • Content
    • Current
    • Ahead of print
    • Archive
  • Info for
    • Authors
    • Reviewers
  • About Us
    • About the Ochsner Journal
    • Editorial Board
  • More
    • Alerts
    • Feedback
Case ReportCase Reports

Successful Lung Transplantation from a Donor with Persistent Lobar Atelectasis

Aditya Bansal, Norihisa Shigemura, Yoshiya Toyoda and Jay K. Bhama
Ochsner Journal June 2014, 14 (2) 266-269;
Aditya Bansal
1Department of Surgery, Section of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Ochsner Clinic Foundation, New Orleans, LA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Norihisa Shigemura
2Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Yoshiya Toyoda
3Department of Surgery, Section of Cardiovascular Surgery, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
Jay K. Bhama
2Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, Pittsburgh, PA
  • Find this author on Google Scholar
  • Find this author on PubMed
  • Search for this author on this site
  • Article
  • Figures & Data
  • References
  • Info & Metrics
  • PDF
Loading

Abstract

Background Over the past 15 years, the number of recipients waiting for a lung transplant has increased and now far exceeds the number of available donors. Liberalization of donor criteria to include the use of extended donors remains an attractive option for expanding the donor pool. Numerous centers, including the authors' own, have begun exploring this relatively unknown territory of lung transplantation.

Case Report Successful bilateral lung transplantation was performed for a patient with emphysema utilizing lungs from a donor with persistent lobar atelectasis.

Conclusion This report demonstrates that an acceptable outcome is possible from a donor with persistent lobar atelectasis if other parameters are acceptable. Larger studies would help further our understanding of the impact of donor radiographic abnormalities on outcomes following lung transplantation.

Keywords
  • Directed tissue donation
  • lung transplantation
  • pulmonary atelectasis

INTRODUCTION

Over the past 15 years, the number of recipients waiting for a lung transplant has increased and now far exceeds the number of available donors. The result is a doubling of the median wait time with an associated 20%-30% waitlist mortality.1 Numerous strategies to expand the donor pool have recently been advocated, including living-related lung donation, donation after cardiac death, and liberalization of donor criteria. Living-related lung donation and donation after cardiac death have been slow to develop because of technical and ethical issues. Liberalization of donor criteria to include the use of extended donors remains an attractive option for expanding the donor pool. Numerous centers, including the authors' own, have begun exploring this relatively unknown territory of lung transplantation.

CASE REPORT

A 56-year-old female patient with emphysema was listed for bilateral lung transplantation with a forced expiratory volume in 1 second of 0.42 L. An appropriately sized 39-year-old male donor became available after he suffered a blunt head injury from a 10-foot fall, necessitating a left craniotomy. Because of cerebral edema, the craniotomy was not closed, and the donor was maintained in a right lateral decubitus position for 72 hours prior to donation. The lung function was excellent; the peripheral arterial blood gas demonstrated a partial pressure of oxygen (PaO2) of 396 mmHg on an inspired oxygen fraction (FiO2) of 100%. Bronchoscopy demonstrated normal anatomy with minimal secretions. Serial chest radiographs demonstrated progressive development of a right lower lobe infiltrate suspicious for atelectasis (Figure 1). Physical inspection of the lung at the time of procurement showed severe right lower lobe atelectasis resistant to full expansion despite a 35-cm H2O Valsalva maneuver.

Figure 1.
  • Download figure
  • Open in new tab
  • Download powerpoint
Figure 1.

Chest radiograph of the donor (A) at admission and (B) on the day of donation.

Upon arrival at the hospital, the recipient developed respiratory distress requiring intubation. Because of the patient's deteriorating respiratory condition, we elected to proceed with lung transplantation. Bilateral sequential lung transplantation was performed via anteroaxillary thoracotomy without cardiopulmonary bypass. Our techniques for lung transplantation, donor procurement, and recipient immunosuppresion have been described previously.2 The ischemic times were 336 and 446 minutes for the right and left lungs, respectively. Postoperatively, the lung function was excellent with an oxygen saturation of 100% on an FiO2 of 30% and 10 cm H2O of positive end-expiratory pressure.

The recipient's chest radiograph on postoperative day 1 is shown in Figure 2A. She was extubated on postoperative day 3 and transferred out of the intensive care unit the following day. Cultures from the donor's right mainstem bronchus grew methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, and the recipient was treated with intravenous vancomycin. On postoperative day 12, the recipient was discharged home with an oxygen saturation of 98% on room air. Her chest radiograph at the time of discharge demonstrated nearly complete resolution of the right lower lobe atelectasis (Figure 2B). She required readmission on postoperative day 15 for moderate-sized bilateral pleural effusions, for which she underwent uneventful pigtail catheter drainage.

Figure 2.
  • Download figure
  • Open in new tab
  • Download powerpoint
Figure 2.

Chest radiograph of the recipient (A) on postoperative day 1 and (B) at time of discharge from the hospital.

DISCUSSION

We report a successful case of double lung transplantation from an extended donor, one with persistent lobar atelectasis. Characteristics typical of the extended donor include high-risk social history, advanced age, prior chest surgery, suboptimal lung function, radiographic abnormalities, and coexisting infection or injury. Confusion still exists regarding the utilization of donors with radiographic abnormalities. Most centers typically demand that the radiograph be completely free of abnormalities. A significant emphasis has been placed upon using the radiograph to optimize donor management. We typically request frequent radiographic examinations in addition to arterial blood gas analysis to assess the impact of corrective measures. Inability to correct an abnormal chest radiograph is generally considered a contraindication to lung donation. Our case challenges this common contraindication.

Botha et al recently reviewed the use of extended criteria lung donors.3 In their chart summarizing the progressive relaxation of donor acceptability criteria (Figure 3), a donor with persistent collapse on chest radiograph would be considered unusable. Bhorade et al, on the other hand, described successful outcomes in 5 patients who underwent lung transplantation from donors with infiltrates on their chest radiograph.4 Unfortunately, the degree of these infiltrates was not described. In a cohort of 84 patients, Bolton et al found that chest radiography played little role in decisionmaking regarding donor acceptance and demonstrated that significant interobserver variability existed in assessing the quality of the lungs for donation.5

Figure 3.
  • Download figure
  • Open in new tab
  • Download powerpoint
Figure 3.

Chart summarizing the progressive relaxation of donor acceptability criteria. (Reprinted with permission from Botha P, Fisher AJ, Dark JH.3 Promotional and commercial use of the material in print, digital, or mobile device format is prohibited without the permission from the publisher Lippincott Williams & Wilkins. Please contact journalpermissions{at}lww.com for further information.)

CONCLUSION

The literature is sparse in studies that evaluate the utility of chest radiography in determining the suitability of lungs for donation. The ability to utilize lungs that current criteria would deem unusable may help alleviate the current shortage of donor lungs. This report demonstrates that an acceptable outcome is possible from a donor with persistent lobar atelectasis if other parameters are acceptable. Larger studies would help further our understanding of the impact of donor radiographic abnormalities on outcomes following lung transplantation.

This article meets the Accreditation Council for Graduate Medical Education and the American Board of Medical Specialties Maintenance of Certification competencies for Patient Care and Medical Knowledge.

ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We acknowledge the LifeLink Foundation of Florida for assistance in obtaining donor radiographic images.

Footnotes

  • The authors have no financial or proprietary interest in the subject matter of this article.

  • © Academic Division of Ochsner Clinic Foundation

REFERENCES

  1. ↵
    1. Fisher AJ,
    2. Dark JH,
    3. Corris PA
    (10, 1998) Improving donor lung evaluation: a new approach to increase organ supply for lung transplantation. Thorax 53(10):818–820, pmid:10193365.
    OpenUrlFREE Full Text
  2. ↵
    1. Toyoda Y,
    2. McCurry KR
    (7, 2007) Prior cardiac surgery is not a contraindication for lung donor. Ann Thorac Surg 84(1):314–316, pmid:17588452.
    OpenUrlCrossRefPubMed
  3. ↵
    1. Botha P,
    2. Fisher AJ,
    3. Dark JH
    (11 27, 2006) Marginal lung donors: A diminishing margin of safety? Transplantation 82(10):1273–1279, pmid:17130774.
    OpenUrlPubMed
  4. ↵
    1. Bhorade SM,
    2. Vigneswaran W,
    3. McCabe MA,
    4. Garrity ER
    (12, 2000) Liberalization of donor criteria may expand the donor pool without adverse consequence in lung transplantation. J Heart Lung Transplant 19(12):1199–1204, pmid:11124490.
    OpenUrlCrossRefPubMed
  5. ↵
    1. Bolton JS,
    2. Padia SA,
    3. Borja MC,
    4. et al.
    (4, 2003) The predictive value and inter-observer variability of donor chest radiograph interpretation in lung transplantation. Eur J Cardiothorac Surg 23(4):484–487, pmid:12694764.
    OpenUrlCrossRefPubMed
PreviousNext
Back to top

In this issue

Ochsner Journal
Vol. 14, Issue 2
Jun 2014
  • Table of Contents
  • Index by author
Print
Download PDF
Email Article

Thank you for your interest in spreading the word on Ochsner Journal.

NOTE: We only request your email address so that the person you are recommending the page to knows that you wanted them to see it, and that it is not junk mail. We do not capture any email address.

Enter multiple addresses on separate lines or separate them with commas.
Successful Lung Transplantation from a Donor with Persistent Lobar Atelectasis
(Your Name) has sent you a message from Ochsner Journal
(Your Name) thought you would like to see the Ochsner Journal web site.
CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether or not you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Citation Tools
Successful Lung Transplantation from a Donor with Persistent Lobar Atelectasis
Aditya Bansal, Norihisa Shigemura, Yoshiya Toyoda, Jay K. Bhama
Ochsner Journal Jun 2014, 14 (2) 266-269;

Citation Manager Formats

  • BibTeX
  • Bookends
  • EasyBib
  • EndNote (tagged)
  • EndNote 8 (xml)
  • Medlars
  • Mendeley
  • Papers
  • RefWorks Tagged
  • Ref Manager
  • RIS
  • Zotero
Share
Successful Lung Transplantation from a Donor with Persistent Lobar Atelectasis
Aditya Bansal, Norihisa Shigemura, Yoshiya Toyoda, Jay K. Bhama
Ochsner Journal Jun 2014, 14 (2) 266-269;
del.icio.us logo Digg logo Reddit logo Twitter logo Facebook logo Google logo Mendeley logo
  • Tweet Widget
  • Facebook Like
  • Google Plus One

Jump to section

  • Article
    • Abstract
    • INTRODUCTION
    • CASE REPORT
    • DISCUSSION
    • CONCLUSION
    • ACKNOWLEDGMENT
    • Footnotes
    • REFERENCES
  • Figures & Data
  • Info & Metrics
  • References
  • PDF

Cited By...

  • Recent Publications by Ochsner Authors
  • Google Scholar

More in this TOC Section

  • Peduncular Hallucinosis: A Case Report
  • Propofol Infusion Syndrome or Not? A Case Report
  • Recurrent Angiomatoid Fibrous Histiocytoma: A Case Report and Review of the Literature
Show more Case Reports

Similar Articles

Keywords

  • Directed tissue donation
  • lung transplantation
  • pulmonary atelectasis

Current Post at the Blog

American Association for the Advancement of Science Surveys Scientists About Article Publishing Charges—And Uncovers More Problems

Our Content

  • Home
  • Current Issue
  • Ahead of Print
  • Archive
  • Featured Contributors
  • Ochsner Journal Blog
  • Archive at PubMed Central

Information & Forms

  • Instructions for Authors
  • Instructions for Reviewers
  • Submission Checklist
  • FAQ
  • License for Publishing-Author Attestation
  • Patient Consent Form
  • Submit a Manuscript

Services & Contacts

  • Permissions
  • Sign up for our electronic table of contents
  • Feedback Form
  • Contact Us

About Us

  • Editorial Board
  • About the Ochsner Journal
  • Ochsner Health
  • University of Queensland-Ochsner Clinical School
  • Alliance of Independent Academic Medical Centers

© 2023 Ochsner Clinic Foundation

Powered by HighWire