Successful Repair of Donation After Circulatory Death Lungs With Large Pulmonary Embolus Using the Lung Organ Care System for Ex Vivo Thrombolysis and Subsequent Clinical Transplantation

What is it about?

We report the use of the Transmedics Lung Organ Care System (OCS) to lyse pulmonary embolus from a set of donation after circulatory death (DCD) lungs with subsequent clinical transplantation.

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Why is it important?

The boundary of marginal lung utilization is expanding with the development of ex vivo lung perfusion to improve donor lung function. The use of a stationary ex vivo lung platform and treatment of donor lungs with pulmonary embolism (PE) has been described once, and PE found in 38% of donor lungs is associated with worse primary graft dysfunction scores after transplantation. This is a unique report of a donation after circulatory death donor with PE and subsequent successful ex vivo thrombolysis and assessment using the portable Lung OCS followed by clinical transplantation.