The Journal of Thoracic and Cardiovascular Surgery, Vol 75, 141-146, Copyright © 1978 by The American Association for Thoracic Surgery and The Western Thoracic Surgical Association
Transplantation of the left lung into the right hemithorax to facilitate immediate reconstitution of bronchial artery flow
FJ Veith, M Torres, I Colon, K Pinsker, SK Koerner, R Crane and D Paulson
Immediate bronchial artery reconstitution may be important in the
prevention of bronchial anastomotic problems in lung transplantation. To
facilitate this reconstitution in circumstances requiring allograft
replacement of the right lung, we developed a method for transplanting the
left lung together with its bronchial arterial supply into the right
hemithorax. With this method, left lungs were allotransplanted into the
right hemithorax of nine immunosuppressed dogs. Six recipients survived 1
to 4 weeks. Death resulted from pneumonia or rejection, and there were no
bronchial anastomotic problems. Roentgenograms showed that the bronchial
artery was patent and that the inverted transplanted left lungs could
conform exactly to the thorax without space problems or radiographic
abnormalities. Except for the unusual position of the large pulmonary
arteries, angiographic patterns, function, and perfusion of the
transplanted lungs were often normal and equivalent to those of the
recipient's normal left lung. Thus it is possible to transplant a left lung
into either hemithorax and immediately reconstitute its bronchial arterial
circulation. Bronchial anastomotic problems may thereby be decreased.
