Who needs a lung transplant?
In general, patients with advanced lung failure who continue to have severe symptoms (breathlessness with little or no exercise) on maximal medical therapy should be considered for transplant evaluation. In general, patients with increasing medication requirements, frequent hospitalizations, or overall deterioration of clinical status should be considered relatively urgently. All candidates for transplantation begin the program with a comprehensive series of tests conducted by our multidisciplinary team of specialists. Some of these tests are required for any operative procedure (history and physical, chest X-ray, EKG, etc.) while others (such as special blood tests to learn about prior infection exposure) are required to optimize the recipient’s care after the transplant. During the evaluation the lung transplant candidate will meet many members of the transplant team. Each member of the team will want to get to know the individual needing the transplant as well as all family members
