American journal of respiratory and critical care medicine
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Am. J. Respir. Crit. Care Med. · Oct 2019
Effect of Including Important Clinical Variables on Accuracy of the Lung Allocation Score for Cystic Fibrosis and Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.
Rationale: Clinical variables associated with shortened survival in patients with advanced-stage cystic fibrosis (CF) are not included in the lung allocation score (LAS). Objectives: To identify variables associated with wait-list and post-transplant mortality for CF lung transplant candidates using a novel database and to analyze the impact of including new CF-specific variables in the LAS system. Methods: A deterministic matching algorithm identified patients from the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation Patient Registry. ⋯ Priority for transplant increased for COPD candidates. Access did not change for other diagnosis groups. Conclusions: Adding CF-specific variables improved discrimination among wait-listed CF candidates and benefited COPD candidates.