Smoker's Lungs Used In Transplant

March 22, 2004

DOCTORS are prepared to transplant the lungs of former smokers to save the lives of patients on organ transplant waiting lists because of the scarcity of available organs.

In one recent British case, a seriously ill patient received the lungs of a 40-a-day smoker.

Dr Judy Morton, a respiratory physician at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne, will tell a conference in Sydney today that there is no evidence patients who received lungs from smokers faced a shorter life expectancy than other lung transplant recipients.

"There isn't evidence to say that lungs that are damaged by smoking and still functioning well do any worse than perfect lungs," she said. Dr Morton said several other conditions apart from smoking, including asthma and infection, rendered lungs less than perfect.

"If we transplanted only perfect lungs, most of the people on the waiting list would not live to get the donor," she said.

About 30 per cent of patients - many of whom suffered from lung disease caused by cystic fibrosis, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease or smoking-related emphysema - die while waiting for a transplant.

Dr Morton, who is speaking at a conference of the Australian and New Zealand Society of Respiratory Science opening in Sydney today, said smokers might wrongly assume that their organs would not be of use after they died.

"People who have been smokers may assume they're not suitable for organ donation, particularly lungs," she said.

"Don't assume you wouldn't be suitable for organ donation - you might be."

She said doctors could determine the performance of lungs donated by a smoker after they died, by watching how oxygen was pumped through their blood using a ventilator.

The British patient, a non-smoking cystic fibrosis sufferer in his 20s, is said to be making a good recovery after his operation and was fully aware he had received a smoker's lungs.

Lung transplant patients who received lungs from smokers are highly unlikely to take up the habit themselves - thus reducing the risk of smoking-related illnesses, she said.

Survival rates one year after a lung transplant are now close to 90 per cent in Australia, compared with the benchmark of 73 per cent.

About 850 doctors and scientists from around the world were attending the conference, which continues until Wednesday.

Copyright © 2004 The Daily Telegraph.

This article posted April 11, 2004.