Through transplant, Duke seeks to improve the health and longevity of patients with advanced chronic lung disease and other serious pulmonary disorders.

Among the nation’s most successful and highest-volume programs of its kind, the Duke Lung and Heart-Lung Transplant Program was established in 1992 and is the Southeast’s largest lung transplant program. Our experienced specialists have performed more than 900 lung transplants, including 94 lung transplants in 2009 alone.

Treating Complicated Cases

Lung transplant can benefit patients with advanced lung disease for which medical therapies are not effective. These lung diseases include pulmonary fibrosis, connective tissue disease, emphysema, pulmonary hypertension, sarcoidosis, LAM, pneumoconiosis, bronchoalveolar carcinoma (BAC), bronchiectasis, and cystic fibrosis (CF).

Our program often evaluates potential transplant candidates that other lung transplant centers have chosen not to transplant due to their complex medical conditions.

Our areas of special expertise and exceptional success include lung transplantation in CF patients including patients colonized with highly resistant organisms; multi-organ transplants  including heart-lung and lung-liver transplantation; re-transplantation for bronchiolits obliterans; lung transplantation in conjunction with coronary artery revascularization or valvular heart procedures and transplantation of older and/or critically ill patients.

Unlike most other programs, we have no absolute upper age limit, offering a second chance at a healthy life for numerous patients.

Expert Treatment Produces Excellent Results

Once a patient has been referred to Duke, our dedicated, multi-disciplinary team of social workers, transplant coordinators, financial coordinators, dieticians, pulmonologists, and surgeons work together to provide specialized care for each patient’s specific needs.

Our team works extensively with each patient to ensure the patient is physically and emotionally prepared for transplant. We also offer patients and their caregivers the resources and support they need to lead a healthy life after transplantation.

Our patients -- both pre- and post-transplant -- engage in supervised pulmonary rehabilitation at the Duke Center for Living. This specialized medical rehabilitation facility has been recognized for exceptional quality and experience with lung transplant patients.

Through therapy and transplant, we can give patients back not only quantity of life, but also improved quality of life.

Our program maintains one of the shortest waiting list times in the country and has only infrequent deaths on the waiting list. This short waiting time has allowed our program to provide patients life-saving care exactly when they need it.

Outcomes

Our program is proud to achieve both one- and three-year post-transplant survival that is significantly greater than national averages. Duke is one of only a few programs in the world to have reached this level of success.

Learn more about our positive survival rates

Research

Our program remains at the cutting edge of many innovative and exciting research and clinical therapies.

Learn more about our innovative research program

Pre-Transplant Coordinators

Khara Brodrick, RN, BSN
Lauren Rich, RN, BSN

Post-Transplant Coordinators

Tracie Parker Holland, RN, BSN, CCTC
Cindy Lawrence, RN, MSN
Sandy Lynch, RN
Emily Johnson, RN, BSN

Physicians

Physicians offering this service include:

• Davis, R. Duane
  • Surgery / Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery
• Lin, Shu S.
  • Surgery / Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery
• Martinu, Tereza
  • Medicine / Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine
• Morrison, Lake D.
  • Medicine / Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine
• Palmer, Scott M.
  • Medicine / Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine
• Snyder, Laurie D.
  • Medicine / Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine
• Steele, Mark P.
  • Medicine / Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine
• Zaas, David W.
  • Medicine / Pulmonary, Allergy, and Critical Care Medicine

Locations

This service is available at:

• Duke University Hospital
  2301 Erwin Road, Durham, NC 27710