History of Lung Transplants
Lung transplant is a treatment, not a cure, for end-stage lung disease. The first human lung transplant was performed by Dr. James Hardy at the University of Mississippi in 1963 for an isolated cancer of the lung. The patient lived for 18 days and died of kidney failure. Between 1963 and 1980, about 44 transplants were performed at medical centers around the world with no real success. Most of these transplants were performed on debilitated patients as "rescue" attempts after they became ventilator-dependent. Only two recipients lived longer than one month.
This disappointing start contributed to a halt in lung transplantation until cyclosporine was introduced in the early 1980s. Heart-lung transplantation was performed successfully in 1981 at Stanford University and became the only option for lung transplantation until lung transplantation became commonplace in the late 1980s.
The first lung transplant associated with prolonged postoperative survival was performed by Dr. Joel Cooper at the Toronto General Hospital in 1983. The patient received a right lung transplant for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and survived for over six and a half years before succumbing to renal failure. In 1986, Dr. Cooper performed the first successful double lung transplant. Results continue to improve because of better medications and treatment of infection and rejection. The main limiting factor is the small supply of donor organs.
In 1993, Emory established the only lung transplantation program in the state of Georgia, with the primary mission of serving those residents of Georgia suffering from otherwise untreatable complex lung diseases.
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