Heart and lung transplantation

This article will focus on heart transplantation and lung transplantation. Combined heart and lung transplantation is infrequently done in the UK now due to the paucity of organs for transplantation. In the year to 31st March 2010, only five such transplants were done nationally.1 The outcomes of transplantation are dependent upon the entirety of the transplantation process which consists of recipient selection, organ retrieval, organ preservation, implantation, reperfusion, management of immunosuppression and treatment of the complications of transplantation, in particular, rejection and infection. We will cover most of these, reflecting a surgical perspective.