Tailoring of the lung to overcome size disparities in lung transplantation.

Background: Between October 1989 and December 1994 in 13 (four single and nine bilateral lung transplantations) of 124 lung transplantations, pulmonary allografts were considered to be too large to fit into the recipient thoracic cavity.

Methods: In all these patients (emphysema n = 6, fibrosis n = 4, pulmonary hypertension n = 3), the transplanted lungs were trimmed by extra anatomic wedge resections with the use of mechanical stapling devices to reach an acceptable size.

Results: No postoperative complication attributable to the tailoring procedure was observed.

Conclusions: Tailoring of the lung is a safe and efficient method to overcome moderate size disparities between donor and recipient lungs.