Living Donor Information: Lung

In a living lobar lung transplant, two donors are required for one transplant recipient. Each donor will give a lobe, or one section of one lung, either the right lower lobe or the left lower lobe.

Lobar lung transplantation has been an acceptable option for selected patients who require lung transplant since the advent of this procedure in 1993. Patients receiving living lobar lung transplants have outcomes comparable to patients receiving traditional, cadaveric transplants.

Duke University Health System performed its first living lobar lung transplant in 1997, with the recipient and donors continuing to do well to date.

While no serious or life-threatening complications have been reported, potential donors should know that there are significant risks to donating:

• Overall decrease in lung function of about 18 percent
• One in 10,000 chance of dying during or immediately after the surgery.
• One in 20 chance of having minor complications such as:
  • Pain
  • Bleeding
  • Prolonged fluid leak
  • Prolonged air leak
  • Infection
  • Irritation of the heart

Most donors are hospitalized for about nine days. The total recovery time is likely to be four to six weeks, during which the donor will be unable to work or care for other family members. Donors will need to stay in Durham for about one week after leaving the hospital for follow-up with the doctors.

Potential donors must be closely related to the recipient, with biologic family members providing the best matches. Potential donors must:

• Be between 18 and 55 years of age
• Have a compatible blood type with the recipient
• Be three to six inches taller than the recipient
• Have normal pulmonary function studies
• Be in overall good health
• Quit smoking and refrain from all tobacco products for the rest of their lives
• Have had no previous chest surgery

Evaluation as a potential donor requires a one-to-two-week stay near Duke University Hospital. After a telephone interview with the Transplant Nurse Coordinator, confirmation of blood type and pulmonary function studies (to include spirometry, lung volumes, and diffusion capacity) should be faxed to the Transplant Office at 919-681-9571. Studies and appointments to be completed at Duke University Hospital include:

• Blood work
• Pulmonary function studies and arterial blood gas
• Chest x-ray and CT scan
• Stress test
• Assessment by the social worker
• Assessment by the psychologist
• Assessment by the transplant pulmonologist and surgeon
• Assessment by the non-transplant pulmonologist and surgeon

For further information about becoming a living lobar lung transplant donor, please contact the Lung Transplant Office at 800-249-5864 or 919-684-2240.