TREATMENT:

TRANSPLANTATION SURGERY

Right before transplant, we will do a few last-minute tests and you will receive anti-rejection medications and antibiotics. There is a chance that the surgery will be canceled at the last moment as the team assesses the donor lungs right up to the moments before the surgery. If the organ is found to be sub-optimal the call will be terminated, and you will be discharged home. It is not unusual for this to happen more than once. 

In the operating room, you will be under general anaesthesia, and your bodily functions will be supported by external tubes. There will be an endotracheal tube, which is a breathing tube that extends from your mouth into the lungs, an intravenous line in your neck, a nasogastric or “NG” tube that goes into your stomach through your nose, and a urinary catheter that drains urine freely into a bag. 

The surgery itself can take 8 or more hours depending on your condition and whether you have a double or a single lung transplant. Some people need to have their lung or heart function supported by machines before, during, or after the surgery. Your chest will be opened between the ribs in the front across the breast bone or at the side. The diseased lungs will be removed and replaced with the donor lungs, one at a time. The new lung will be connected to the main bronchus, the pulmonary artery, and the pulmonary vein. After the lung is connected, the surgeons will leave drainage tubes around the lungs and heart and carefully close the layers of bone, muscle, and skin.