Expanded indications for auto-lung transplant technique.

OBJECTIVE

Lung autotransplantation was originally developed to avoid pneumonectomy for centrally located lung cancer. We herein report our experience with lung autotransplantation for the treatment of various types of lung diseases.

METHODS

This is a single-center case series of lung autotransplantation with ex vivo bench surgery. Five patients underwent lung autotransplantation between September 2014 and October 2018. A common surgical technique was as follows: pneumonectomy was first completed. The intact lobes were then separated ex vivo, flushed using cold ET-Kyoto solution on a back table, and reimplanted.

RESULTS

The indications for lung autotransplantation were postpneumonectomy-like syndrome, locally advanced lung cancer, pulmonary artery sarcoma, central lung cancer, and bronchopleural fistula after right upper bronchial sleeve lobectomy. No major post-transplant complications were observed except for mild stenosis of bronchial anastomosis in one case that required bronchial intervention. One patient died of recurrence of pulmonary artery sarcoma 14 months after surgery. The other patients are alive without any recurrence of the native respiratory diseases or symptoms.

CONCLUSIONS

Lung autotransplantation following ex vivo bench surgery was found to be technically feasible for various lung diseases, showing a favorable early post-transplant outcome.