The Journal of heart and lung transplantation : the official publication of the International Society for Heart Transplantation
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J. Heart Lung Transplant. · Apr 2015
Functional outcomes and quality of life after normothermic ex vivo lung perfusion lung transplantation.
Ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) is an effective method to assess and improve the function of otherwise unacceptable lungs, alleviating the shortage of donor lungs. The early results with EVLP have been encouraging, but longer-term results, including functional and patient-reported outcomes, are not well characterized. ⋯ EVLP is a safe and effective method of assessing and using high-risk donor lungs before transplantation and leads to acceptable long-term survival, graft function, and improvements of quality of life that are comparable with conventionally selected donor lungs.