• Jawad Salman, Fabio Ius, Wiebke Sommer, Thierry Siemeni, Christian Kuehn, Murat Avsar, Dietmar Boethig, Ulrich Molitoris, Christoph Bara, Jens Gottlieb, Tobias Welte, Axel Haverich, Marius M Hoeper, Gregor Warnecke, and Igor Tudorache.
• Department of Cardiothoracic, Transplant and Vascular Surgery, Hannover Medical School, Hannover, Germany.
• Eur J Cardiothorac Surg. 2017 Jul 1; 52 (1): 163-170.

ObjectivesIn severe pulmonary hypertension, diastolic dysfunction of the left ventricle causes significant morbidity and mortality after lung transplantation, which may be successfully reversed using a protocol based on perioperative veno-arterial extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and early extubation. Here, we present echocardiographic data and mid-term outcomes.MethodsThe records of lung transplanted patients at our institution between May 2010 and January 2016 were retrospectively reviewed. Echocardiography data were collected preoperatively, at discharge, 3 and 12 months after transplantation.ResultsDuring the study period, 717 patients underwent lung transplantation at our institution, 38 (5%) patients being transplanted for severe pulmonary hypertension. All patients underwent bilateral lung transplantation on veno-arterial ECMO cannulated in the groin, through a sternum sparing thoracotomy in 36 (95%) patients. Extubation was performed early, after a median of 2 days, and awake ECMO was extended for at least 5 days after transplantation. The survival at 3 months, 1 year and 5 years was not different in comparison to patients transplanted for other underlying diseases ( P  = 0.45). At 1 year, tricuspid valve regurgitation had disappeared in all patients. The median of the left ventricular end-diastolic dimension improved from 40 (32-44) mm preoperatively to 45 (44-47) mm at 12 months after lung transplantation ( P  < 0.05). The median of the proximal right ventricular outflow diameter decreased to 25 (23-27) mm after 12 months, compared to 48 (43-51) mm preoperatively ( P  < 0.05).ConclusionsThe routine application of a prophylactic postoperative veno-arterial ECMO protocol in patients with severe pulmonary hypertension undergoing lung transplantation decreases postoperative mortality and favours achievement of normal cardiac function after 1 year.© The Author 2017. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Association for Cardio-Thoracic Surgery. All rights reserved.

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