Thorax
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Comparative Study
Comparison of the functional results of single lung transplantation for pulmonary fibrosis and chronic airway obstruction.
Single lung transplantation (SLT) is now a treatment option for patients with both pulmonary fibrosis and advanced chronic airway obstruction. Lung function after transplantation might be expected to be different in these two groups of patients because of the effect of the remaining native lung, but the implications of these differences have not been fully explored. ⋯ These results suggest that differences in the functional results of SLT for airway disease and pulmonary fibrosis are relatively minor. In this series the native hyperinflated lung in chronic airway disease was not more disadvantageous to overall function than the native lung in pulmonary fibrosis. However, tests of lung function based on the terminal portion of the forced spirogram are likely to be less sensitive for the detection of obliterative bronchiolitis in patients who have received a transplant for advanced airway obstruction than in those with pulmonary fibrosis.