About
Lung Transplantation
A lung transplant is an effective and life-extending treatment for individuals with advanced lung diseases. These conditions include but are not limited to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and cystic fibrosis (CF).
Lung transplant surgeries have increased in frequency over the last 10 years with approximately 4,500 operations performed worldwide, including about 2,500 operations in the United States. Median survival for individuals who undergo a lung transplant has improved to approximately 6.7 years post-transplant. However, there are still significant challenges for patients who receive this procedure.
Lung transplantation can transform lives affected by advanced lung diseases such as COPD, IPF, and CF. These diseases affect more than 15 million people in North America.
Donor utilization rates are lower and lung transplant candidates on transplant waitlists have a higher death rate than other commonly transplanted organs. Additionally, despite donor management and recipient immunosuppression efforts, post-operation conditions such as primary graft dysfunction (PGD), acute rejection (AR), and acute lung allograft dysfunction (ALAD) occur frequently, which limits early transplant success and ultimately contribute to the development of chronic lung transplant failure.
The LTC
The Lung Transplant Consortium (LTC)
The LTC is a cooperative multi-site research consortium working collaboratively to better understand how lung transplant selection criteria and clinical management strategies influence donor lung utilization and early post-transplant outcomes.
The LTC is comprised of 19 North American lung transplant centers, organized into 7 Clinical Centers (LTC-CCs), and a Data Coordinating Center (LTC-DCC).
- Each LTC-CC will conduct local hypothesis-driven clinical and mechanistic studies addressing.
- The LTC-DCC will collect a core set of clinical data and biospecimens through a common protocol from lung transplant donors, candidates, and recipients across all LTC-CCs that will provide a basis for performing additional large, unbiased, and well-controlled studies.