Ex vivo lung perfusion in donation after circulatory death: A post hoc analysis of the Normothermic Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion as an Assessment of Extended/Marginal Donors Lungs trial.

Objective: Donation after circulatory death (DCD) donors offer the ability to expand the lung donor pool and ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) further contributes to this ability by allowing for additional evaluation and resuscitation of these extended criteria donors. We sought to determine the outcomes of recipients receiving organs from DCD EVLP donors in a multicenter setting.

Methods: This was an unplanned post hoc analysis of a multicenter, prospective, nonrandomized trial that took place during 2011 to 2017 with 3 years of follow-up.

Robotic Lobectomy Is Cost-effective and Provides Comparable Health Utility Scores to Video-assisted Lobectomy: Early Results of the RAVAL Trial.

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine if robotic-assisted lobectomy (RPL-4) is cost-effective and offers improved patient-reported health utility for patients with early-stage non-small cell lung cancer when compared with video-assisted thoracic surgery lobectomy (VATS-lobectomy).

Background: Barriers against the adoption of RPL-4 in publicly funded health care include the paucity of high-quality prospective trials and the perceived high cost of robotic surgery.

Methods: Patients were enrolled in a blinded, multicentered, randomized controlled trial in Canada, the United States, and France, and were randomized 1:1 to either RPL-4 or VATS-lobectomy.

Laparoscopic Toupet fundoplication: a safe and effective anti-reflux option in lung transplant recipients.

Background: Fundoplication is known to improve allograft outcomes in lung transplant recipients by reducing retrograde aspiration secondary to gastroesophageal reflux disease, a modifiable risk factor for chronic allograft dysfunction. Laparoscopic Nissen fundoplication has historically been the anti-reflux procedure of choice, but the procedure is associated with discernable rates of postoperative dysphagia and gas-bloat syndrome. Laparoscopic Toupet fundoplication, an alternate anti-reflux surgery with lower rates of foregut complications in the general population, is the procedure of choice on our institution's lung transplant protocol.

A prospective examination of swallow and cough dysfunction after lung transplantation.

Objectives: Swallow and cough dysfunction are possible surgical complications of lung transplantation (LT). We examined voluntary cough strength, sensorimotor reflexive cough integrity, and swallow-related respiratory rate (RR) across swallowing safety and aspiration response groups in recovering LT recipients.

Methods: Forty-five LT recipients underwent flexible endoscopic evaluation of swallowing indexed by the validated Penetration Aspiration Scale.

Incidence, risk factors, and sequelae of dysphagia mediated aspiration following lung transplantation.

Background: We aimed to determine dysphagia profiles before and after lung transplantation (prevalence, incidence) and to examine predictors and health-related outcomes of aspiration in individuals undergoing lung transplantation.

Methods: A retrospective single-center study of consecutive adults undergoing lung transplantation and completing a postoperative videofluoroscopic swallowing study between 2017 and 2020 was conducted. The validated penetration aspiration scale indexed swallowing safety and clinical outcomes were extracted from electronic medical records.

Inpatient Management of the Acutely Decompensating Lung Transplant Candidate.

Lung allocation in the US changed nearly 15 years ago from time accrued on the waiting list to disease severity and likelihood of posttransplant survival, represented by the lung allocation score (LAS). Notably, the risk of death within a year plays a stronger role on the score calculation than posttransplant survival. While this change was associated with the intended decrease in waitlist mortality (most recently reported at 14.

Effect of mode of intraoperative support on primary graft dysfunction after lung transplant.

Objective: To clarify the relationship between the use of extracorporeal life support during lung transplantation and severe primary graft dysfunction (PGD), we developed and analyzed a novel multicenter international registry.

Methods: The Extracorporeal Life Support in Lung Transplantation Registry includes double-lung transplants performed at 8 high-volume centers (>40/year). Multiorgan transplants were excluded.

RAVAL trial: Protocol of an international, multi-centered, blinded, randomized controlled trial comparing robotic-assisted versus video-assisted lobectomy for early-stage lung cancer.

Background: Retrospective data demonstrates that robotic-assisted thoracoscopic surgery provides many benefits, such as decreased postoperative pain, lower mortality, shorter length of stay, shorter chest tube duration, and reductions in the incidence of common postoperative pulmonary complications, when compared to video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery. Despite the potential benefits of robotic surgery, there are two major barriers against its widespread adoption in thoracic surgery: lack of high-quality prospective data, and the perceived higher cost of it. Therefore, in the face of these barriers, a prospective randomized controlled trial comparing robotic- to video-assisted thoracoscopic surgery is needed.

Case report: double lung en bloc procurement from a donor after arterial switch operation.

The growing unmet demand for suitable organ donors increases each year. Despite relative contraindications for thoracic organ donation after previous cardiac surgery, experienced programmes and surgeons can successfully utilise the lungs from select donors who have undergone prior cardiac surgery. This is the first reported case of double lung en bloc procurement from a donor who had a previous arterial switch operation as an infant.

Effects of Patient and Surgery Characteristics on Persistent Postoperative Pain: A Mediation Analysis.

Objective: Acute postoperative pain intensity is associated with persistent postsurgical pain (PPP) risk. However, it remains unclear whether acute postoperative pain intensity mediates the relationship between clinical factors and persistent pain.

Materials And Methods: Participants from a mixed surgical population completed the Brief Pain Inventory and Pain Catastrophizing Scale before surgery, and the Brief Pain Inventory daily after surgery for 7 days and at 30 and 90 days after surgery.

Ex vivo SARS-CoV-2 infection of human lung reveals heterogeneous host defense and therapeutic responses.

Cell lines are the mainstay in understanding the biology of COVID-19 infection but do not recapitulate many of the complexities of human infection. The use of human lung tissue is one solution for the study of such novel respiratory pathogens. We hypothesized that a cryopreserved bank of human lung tissue would allow for the ex vivo study of the interindividual heterogeneity of host response to SARS-CoV-2, thus providing a bridge between studies with cell lines and studies in animal models.

In vivo reprogramming of pathogenic lung TNFR2 cDC2s by IFNβ inhibits HDM-induced asthma.

Asthma is a common inflammatory lung disease with no known cure. Previously, we uncovered a lung TNFR2 conventional DC2 subset (cDC2s) that induces regulatory T cells (T) maintaining lung tolerance at steady state but promotes T2 response during house dust mite (HDM)-induced asthma. Lung IFNβ is essential for TNFR2 cDC2s-mediated lung tolerance.

Lung transplantation for acute exacerbation of interstitial lung disease.

Background: Acute exacerbations of interstitial lung diseases (AE-ILD) have a high mortality rate with no effective medical therapies. Lung transplantation is a potentially life-saving option for patients with AE-ILD, but its role is not well established. The aim of this study is to determine if this therapy during AE-ILD significantly affects post-transplant outcomes in comparison to those transplanted with stable disease.

Early outcomes after lung transplantation for severe COVID-19: a series of the first consecutive cases from four countries.

Background: Lung transplantation is a life-saving treatment for patients with end-stage lung disease; however, it is infrequently considered for patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) attributable to infectious causes. We aimed to describe the course of disease and early post-transplantation outcomes in critically ill patients with COVID-19 who failed to show lung recovery despite optimal medical management and were deemed to be at imminent risk of dying due to pulmonary complications.

Methods: We established a multi-institutional case series that included the first consecutive transplants for severe COVID-19-associated ARDS known to us in the USA, Italy, Austria, and India.

Slow Dynamics of Acute Postoperative Pain Intensity Time Series Determined via Wavelet Analysis Are Associated With the Risk of Severe Postoperative Day 30 Pain.

Background: Evidence suggests that increased early postoperative pain (POP) intensities are associated with increased pain in the weeks following surgery. However, it remains unclear which temporal aspects of this early POP relate to later pain experience. In this prospective cohort study, we used wavelet analysis of clinically captured POP intensity data on postoperative days 1 and 2 to characterize slow/fast dynamics of POP intensities and predict pain outcomes on postoperative day 30.

Patient and Procedural Determinants of Postoperative Pain Trajectories.

Background: The primary goal of this study was to evaluate patterns in acute postoperative pain in a mixed surgical patient cohort with the hypothesis that there would be heterogeneity in these patterns.

Methods: This study included 360 patients from a mixed surgical cohort whose pain was measured across postoperative days 1 through 7. Pain was characterized using the Brief Pain Inventory.

Successful Preoperative Optimization for Lung Transplantation With Transcatheter Mitral Valve Repair.

Surgically treatable valvular heart disease is common in patients with end-stage lung disease. Nevertheless, advanced lung disease is often seen as a contraindication to cardiac surgery, and severe valvular disease is seen as a contraindication to lung transplantation. This report describes the case of a patient presenting with very severe chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and severe mitral regurgitation who was managed with transcatheter mitral valve repair and who subsequently underwent successful lung transplantation.

Successful bridge to lung transplantation with transcatheter aortic valve replacement.

End-stage lung disease and advanced cardiac conditions are frequently seen together and represent a clinical dilemma. Even though both issues may be amenable to surgical management, combining lung transplant with surgical valve repair is rarely done and theoretically associated with increased morbidity and mortality risks, especially in elderly patients. Here, we describe 2 patients presenting with end-stage lung disease and significant aortic stenosis who were successfully bridged to lung transplant via transcatheter aortic valve replacement.

Lung transplantation for cystic fibrosis.

Background: The contribution of lung transplantation to the treatment of patients with end-stage cystic fibrosis (CF) has been debated. We aimed to describe achievable outcomes from high-volume CF and lung transplant programs. This study reports on the largest single-center experience of lung transplantation for adult and pediatric patients with CF.

Enhanced Mitochondrial DNA Repair Resuscitates Transplantable Lungs Donated After Circulatory Death.

Background: Transplantation of lungs procured after donation after circulatory death (DCD) is challenging because postmortem metabolic degradation may engender susceptibility to ischemia-reperfusion (IR) injury. Because oxidative mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) damage has been linked to endothelial barrier disruption in other models of IR injury, here we used a fusion protein construct targeting the DNA repair 8-oxoguanine DNA glycosylase-1 (OGG1) to mitochondria (mtOGG1) to determine if enhanced repair of mtDNA damage attenuates endothelial barrier dysfunction after IR injury in a rat model of lung procurement after DCD.

Materials And Methods: Lungs excised from donor rats 1 h after cardiac death were cold stored for 2 h after which they were perfused ex vivo in the absence and presence of mt-OGG1 or an inactive mt-OGG1 mutant.