Successful lung salvage by ex vivo reconditioning of neurogenic pulmonary edema: case report

Liberalization in donor selection criteria allowed centers to increase the number of lung transplants, yet less than 25% of all donors had lungs utilized for transplantation in the United States in 2013. Less than 5% of all transplanted donors deviate 3 or more criteria from the ideal donor. Ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) provides the opportunity to increase the percentage of used donors by acting on modifiable selection criteria such as oxygenation, contusion and pulmonary infiltrates. We report the pre-transplant use of EVLP in the salvage of lungs from a donor that developed neurogenic pulmonary edema -PaO2 188 mmHg-. The recipient had a lung allocation score of 69.3. The post-operative course was excellent and was discharged home after 15 days. He is alive and doing well 780 days after transplant. In this report the pre-transplant use of EVLP led not only to transplanting lungs that otherwise would not have been used by many centers, but also to a very short and typical period of post-operative mechanical ventilation and hospital stay.