[Lymphatics and lung transplantation. A review]

The role of lymph circulation in lung transplantation (LTx) has not really been studied since the first animal models, which allowed the development of solid organ transplantations. However, the oedema observed in the grafts immediately after LTx often remains unpredictable and unexplained. Although it is an integral part of the entity called "primary graft failure". Despite its multifactor aspects making the interpretation difficult, the possibility of a change in the lymph circulation is proposed to explain an oedema occurrence. The animal models focusing on this point were mainly developed in small bowel transplantation because of interesting similarities with LTx. The analysed criteria were the consequences of lymphatic vessels interruption as well as their regeneration modalities after LTx. These studies also analysed the role of lymphatic vessels in the rejection induction, the local immune response and the occurrence of obliterative bronchiolitis. This review allowed analysing the studies, which approached the lymphatic vessel issue in transplantation.