A lung transplant removes a person’s diseased lung and replaces it with a healthy one. The healthy lung comes from a donor who has died. Some people get one lung during a transplant. Other people get two.
Lung transplants are used for people who are likely to die from lung disease within 1 to 2 years. Their conditions are so severe that other treatments, such as medicines or breathing devices, no longer work. Lung transplants most often are used to treat people who have severe:
- COPD
- Cystic fibrosis
- Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
- Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency
- Pulmonary hypertension
Complications of lung transplantation include rejection of the transplanted lung and infection.
NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Source: MedlinePlus, National Library of Medicine. Health topic summary reproduced with attribution.
