Bilateral versus single lung transplant for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

Objectives: It is unknown if uni- or bilateral lung transplant is best for treatment of usual idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. We reviewed our single-center experience comparing both treatments.

Materials And Methods: Between 2002 and 2011, one hundred thirty-eight patients at our institution underwent a lung transplant.

Fate of patients with extracorporeal lung assist as a bridge to lung transplantation versus patients without--a single-center experience.

Objectives: Mechanical lung assist (MLA; extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) or extracorporeal lung assist (ECLA)) is increasingly used as a temporary bridge to lung transplantation (LTx). This study was designed to evaluate the impact of preoperative MLA on the operative outcome, including longer-term survival, in comparison to patients undergoing LTx without preoperative MLA.

Methods: A total of 143 patients underwent LTx at our institution from 2002 to 2011.

Sternum sparing thoracotomy incisions in lung transplantation surgery: a superior technique to the clamshell approach.

Objective: : Bilateral anterior transsternal thoracotomy incision (clamshell technique) is the standard approach used for bilateral sequential lung transplantation (LTX). The morbidity and wound complications of this large incision can be considerable and costly. Muscle sparing anterior thoracotomies without division of the sternum may lead to decreasing the sequelae of wound complications.

Munich Oktoberfest experience: remarkable impact of sex and age in ethanol intoxication.

Approximately 5,000 of 6 million annual visitors of the Oktoberfest in Munich have to undergo medical treatment. Patients with alcohol intoxication without trauma or further complications are all treated in a specialized medical camp. We studied these patients in order to identify risk factors and to assess the relevance of the Glasgow Coma Score (GCS) and of ethanol blood concentrations for patient management.

Reducing ischemia-reperfusion injury in clinical lung transplantation.

Objective: Acute graft dysfunction secondary to ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI) continues to be the most common cause of early mortality after lung transplantation. The perioperative management with aprotinin could decrease the incidence of severe IRI.

Methods: A retrospective analysis was conducted of the data from 180 patients who underwent either single lung (56%) or bilateral sequential lung transplantation for similar end-stage lung disease between 1997 and 2005.

Replacing cardiopulmonary bypass with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation in lung transplantation operations.

Objective: Cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB) support is required in some lung transplantation (LTX) operations. CPB support and full-dose heparin increases the risks of bleeding and early graft dysfunction. We report our experiences of replacing CPB with heparin-bonded low-dose heparin extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support in LTX surgery.

Aprotinin decreases reperfusion injury and allograft dysfunction in clinical lung transplantation.

Objective: Primary graft dysfunction caused by ischemia-reperfusion injury is one of the most frequent causes of early morbidity and death after lung transplantation. We hypothesized that the perioperative management with aprotinin decreases the incidence of allograft reperfusion injury and dysfunction after clinical lung transplantation.

Methods: Lung transplant databases of two transplant centers were used to investigate the incidence of severe post-transplant reperfusion injury (PTRI).