Over the past 40 years, treatment for pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) has changed dramatically. What was once considered a disease with very few treatment options is now managed with a growing range of therapies that help people live longer and enjoy a better quality of life. A review recently published in Circulation looks back at […]
The e-book for the May 2026 edition of Transplant International is available online in open access at this link The cover features a letter to the editors reporting the impressive summiting of Aconcagua, the highest peak in the Americas, without supplemental oxygen by a lung transplant recipient accompanied by the medico-surgical team from Medical University
Bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome (BOS) is the most common form of chronic lung allograft dysfunction after lung transplant, marked by progressive small airway disease with limited treatment options. This case report describes a 55-year-old woman with primary ciliary dyskinesia, post-bilateral lung transplant, who developed severe (stage 3) bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome and went into respiratory failure requiring
The Pulmonary Hypertension Association, PHA, is hosting a free webinar on transplant evaluation for people living with pulmonary hypertension and their caregivers. The session will cover how risk assessment works, how risk scores guide transplant referral and timing, and what questions to ask your care team — with perspectives on both adult and paediatric patients.
A 51-year-old lung transplant recipient — transplanted in 2002 for cystic fibrosis — successfully reached the summit of Mount Aconcagua in Argentina (6,961 m) in January 2026, without supplemental oxygen. This is the highest altitude ever recorded for a lung transplant recipient. The achievement was part of an international medical expedition organised by the Vienna
This review covers the full clinical picture of pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) — from its pathophysiology and diagnosis through to current and emerging treatments. Understanding the Disease Pulmonary arterial hypertension is driven by progressive structural remodelling of the pulmonary arteries, creating a vicious cycle of vasoconstriction, inflammation, and uncontrolled cell growth that ultimately leads to
Not to be missed! This live webinar organised by the European Society for Organ Transplant aims to provide an update on the burden of Chronic Lung Allograft Dysfunction (CLAD), emphasizing the patient’s perspective and most important challenges living with CLAD. The webinar will cover respiratory rehabilitation and palliative care measures, including the non-pharmacological and symptomatic
Tacrolimus (FK506), discovered in 1984 from Japanese soil fungus, revolutionized organ transplantation. Dr. Thomas Starzl’s pioneering work at the University of Pittsburgh demonstrated dramatic improvements over cyclosporine: liver graft survival increased from 65.5% to 86.2%, with rejection rates dropping to 1-2%. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval followed for liver (1994), kidney (1997), and
Pulmonary arterial hypertension patients face unique challenges in lung transplantation. Unlike patients with other lung diseases, they often have relatively normal lung function tests but are in critical condition due to heart failure. This means they receive low priority scores in the standard Lung Allocation Score (LAS) system, which was designed primarily for patients with
A modified Delphi consensus was conducted by the Pulmonary Vascular Research Institute (PVRI) Lung Transplantation Workstream, involving 29 international experts on pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and lung transplantation. The process generated consensus ( mean scores >_2.5 on Likert scale ) across 141 out of 223 statements relating to when to refer pulmonary arterial hypertension patients
The Council of Europe’s EDQM (European Directorate for the Quality of Medicines and HealthCare) Newsletter Transplant provides regular updates on transplantation-related developments across Europe. It covers policy, regulation, quality standards, and best practices related to organ donation, allocation, and transplant safety, ensuring harmonisation across European Union member states. Additionally, the newsletter shares news on scientific
Tacrolimus therapeutic drug monitoring is challenging due to high inter- and intra-patient variability. A prospective randomized controlled trial was conducted by researchers at the University Hospital in Leuven, Belgium, on 293 de novo kidney transplant recipients during the first 14 days post-transplant. A fully automated Model-informed precision dosing (MIPD) application (1) was integrated into the
A newly published review in Transplantation Direct explores the growing significance ofextracorporeal photopheresis (ECP), a therapy that modulates immune responses usingpatients’ own treated blood cells. The article, authored by Panagiotis Parsonidis, MSc, and Prof. Thomas Wekerle of the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, highlights extracorporeal photopheresis’s established safety record while pointing to future opportunities for
Researchers may have found a way to predict which lung transplant patients will develop serious complications before symptoms appear. In a study titled “Increase in Alveolar Septal Width Is a Histological Predictor of Chronic Lung Allograft Dysfunction and Survival in Lung Transplant Recipients—A Longitudinal Study” the authors measure the thickness of air sac walls in lung
What is pulmonary arterial hypertension and why does risk assessment matter? Pulmonary arterial hypertension is a rare, serious disease where the blood vessels in thelungs become too narrow. This makes the right side of the heart work harder, which overtime can lead to heart failure. Because it can progress quickly, doctors use risk assessment (sometimes
Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi has achieved a historic milestone by performing the Gulf region’s first robotic lung transplants, making it one of only five centers worldwide to successfully complete this advanced procedure. Two patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and secondary pulmonary hypertension have undergone the surgery. These surgeries were quite complex due to pulmonary hypertension,
First robotic lung transplant in Abu Dhabi, UAE, Gulf Today, July 8, 2025 Read Post »
The key findings from the Pulmonary Hypertension Global Patient Survey (PHGPS) adult cohort of 3,329 patients have been published in the ERJ Open Research 2025, highlighting the achievements, shortcomings & regional disparities of clinical care & research globally. The Pulmonary Hypertension Global Patient Survey represents the most extensive survey of its type in the pulmonary
A large US registry study of 1,671 patients with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) over 4607 person-years of follow up found that lung transplant referrals are occurring far too infrequently and too late in the disease course. Despite professional society recommendations for early referral, only 12% of patients were referred for transplantation over the study period.
In their recent open-access article for the Zentralblatt für Chirurgie, Drs.: Szofia Kovacs, Alberto Benazzo, and Peter Jaksch review the latest International Society for Lung and Heart Transplantion (ISHLT) guidelines on lung transplantation, highlighting a major shift toward personalized, inclusive care. Beyond the underlying lung disease, transplant decisions now consider age, frailty, comorbidities, and psychosocial
Early referral for lung transplantation can be life-saving for people with pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH). In this important review, van der Ploeg et al. explore when and how patients across major respiratory diseases especially Pulmonary Arterial Hypertension should be referred for transplant evaluation. As medical therapies continue to improve, the urgency and timing of referral
