Outcome and growth of lobar graft after pediatric living-donor lobar lung transplantation.

Background: Living-donor lobar lung transplantation (LDLLT) remains a life-saving option for pediatric patients with respiratory failure. However, the long-term survival and post-transplant quality of adult lobar grafts transplanted into children are unknown. Therefore, this study aimed to evaluate the outcomes of pediatric LDLLT and post-transplant graft growth.

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed the prospectively collected clinical data of 25 living-donor lung transplantations performed in 24 pediatric recipients aged ≤17 years. The annual pulmonary function test data and computed tomography scans of 12 recipients, followed up for >5 years without significant complications, were used to evaluate growth in height, graft function, and radiological changes. The Kaplan-Meier method and simple linear regression were performed for analysis.

Results: Bilateral lower lobe transplantation was performed in 12 patients, unilateral lower lobe transplantation in 12, and bilateral middle lobe transplantation in 1. The median volumetric size matching at transplantation was 142% (range, 54%-457%). The 5- and 10-year overall survival rates were 87.7% and 75.1༅, respectively. Chronic lung allograft dysfunction occurred in 2 patients. During a median follow-up of 6 years, the median increases in height and vital capacity were 14.4% (range, 0.80%-43.5%) and 58.5% (range, 6.7%-322%), respectively. Graft weight was positively correlated with graft volume (r=0.622, p<0.001) after the graft volume exceeded the original lobar volume in the donor.

Conclusions: This study shows that pediatric LDLLT offers satisfactory long-term survival, with the growth of mature adult lobes transplanted into growing children.