“Examination of Deceased Donor Lungs in Age-Comparative Study Shows Comparable Long-Term Patient Outcomes from Younger vs Older Donors in 10-Year Investigation”

2023-04-26 07:01:00

The researchers have begun examining the lungs of older, deceased donors. For ten years, between 2010 and 2020, they systematically compared how patients who received lungs from older donors fared versus those who received lungs from younger donors. Those target groups were chosen in such a way that they were perfectly comparable.

“We saw that, both in the short and in the longer term, the patient performed just as well as with lungs from a younger donor,” says Ceulemans. “For example, their five-year survival rate was the same, at almost 80 percent. The risk of chronic rejection was also the same.”