Lung Transplant Information #6 - Survival Statistics

There are many statistics. Considering the age and disease of a lung receiver, those younger, more fit and those where the disease is only in the lungs have the best statistics.

Statistics of the long-term survival of lung patients are harder to come by since it is a much smaller population than any other organ transplant. We found it interesting that it is the only organ transplant that is constantly exposed to the environment. All other transplants are exposed only through the blood stream.

Lung patients are sicker to start with than other organ receivers. The people on the list for new lungs are anticipated to survive only 1-2 years without transplantation.

My university hospital has a survival rate of 60% after 5 years. The national number, I believe, is 50%.

I hope that these blogs about the transplant process has been helpful. It is with information comes confidence and an understanding of risks. I feel that I will probably be a candidate for one lung within the next 5-8 years. Or, Dr. K. will talk me into having double lungs before I am 60 years old. Another decision to make!

There is still time for the science to get better and hopefully, the survival numbers to increase.