heart-lung transplant

medicine

Also known as: heart and lung transplant

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Last updated

June 29, 2026

Quick Summary

A heart-lung transplant is a complex surgical procedure to replace a patient's diseased heart and lungs with healthy donor organs. This combined transplant is performed for severe cardiopulmonary diseases, such as cystic fibrosis, or when the right side of the heart fails and cannot pump blood to the lungs.12

The technique was developed through animal experiments, with significant advancements made possible by the immunosuppressant drug cyclosporine, which helps prevent organ rejection. While challenging due to the lungs' susceptibility to infection and damage from lack of blood, successful human heart-lung transplants have been performed since the 1980s. The procedure requires the donor organs to be transplanted quickly due to their limited preservation time.134

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transplant
The heart and lungs
The technique of transplanting the heart and both lungs as a functioning unit was developed in animal experiments at Stanford Medical Center in California. Despite the technical feasibility of the operation, rejection could not be controlled by conventional immunosuppression. With the availability…
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The technique of transplanting the heart and both lungs as a functioning unit was developed in animal experiments at Stanford Medical Center in California. Despite the technical feasibility of the operation, rejection could not be controlled by conventional immunosuppression. With the availability…
Read More

therapeutics
Transplantation surgery
Heart and heart-lung organs can be preserved for four to six hours, and the success rate with this procedure continues to improve. Extensive matching of blood groups and tissue types is performed to minimize the risk of rejection. The size of the donor and donated organ should…
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Heart and heart-lung organs can be preserved for four to six hours, and the success rate with this procedure continues to improve. Extensive matching of blood groups and tissue types is performed to minimize the risk of rejection. The size of the donor and donated organ should…
Read More

Mississippi
Education
The world’s first human heart and lung transplants were performed at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, a facility that is renowned for its innovative work in organ transplantation and hypertension research. In addition to major universities and research centers, Mississippi has dozens of community colleges, colleges…
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The world’s first human heart and lung transplants were performed at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson, a facility that is renowned for its innovative work in organ transplantation and hypertension research. In addition to major universities and research centers, Mississippi has dozens of community colleges, colleges…
Read More