A new study conducted at Temple University Hospital in Philadelphia indicates that lungs from heavy smokers (i.e. those who smoked at least one pack a day for over 20 years) "may be used in certain transplant situations without affecting recipients survival rates or deaths from lung cancer."
According to Dr. Sharven Taghavi, these findings may help more patients waiting for life-saving double-lung transplants, as donors can have good lung function despite years of heavy smoking. Dr. Taghavi and colleagues examined data from nearly 6,000 double-lung transplant recipients between 2005-2011. Of these, 13 received lungs donated by a heavy smoker. While this is a small margin, the study authors point out that, according to the U.S. National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, "every year only 50 % of people who need a double-lung transplant will actually get one."; at the end of 2012, over 1,600 patients were waiting for a lung transplant.
To read more about this study, which was scheduled to be presented yesterday, January 29th, at the annual meeting of the Society of Thoracic Surgeons in Los Angeles, click here
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