We performed our first heart transplant in 1985 and our first lung transplant in 1987.
Our service at the Institute of Transplantation is built around a dedicated and experienced team drawn from a wide range of experts, including:
- cardiothoracic surgeons
- cardiologists
- respiratory physicians and anaesthetists
- transplant coordinators
- specially trained nurses, physiotherapists and social workers.
Working in close co-operation, this multidisciplinary team manages all aspects of patient care from initial assessment of potential transplant patients through to the long term post-transplant care required.
Suitability for transplant
Alternative medical and surgical treatments are always explored before recommending transplantation.
Patients referred for transplant assessment generally have one of the following conditions:
End-stage, severe heart failure due to:
- ischaemic heart disease
- cardiomyopathy
- valvular heart disease
- congenital heart disease
Life threatening lung diseases potentially treatable by transplantation including:
- Obstructive lung disease, eg. chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD or “smokers lung”), emphysema, alpha 1 anti-trypsin deficiency.
- Suppurative lung disease, eg. cystic fibrosis and bronchiectasis
- Diffuse parenchymal lung disease eg. idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, sarcoidosis, occupational lung fibrosis, connective tissue disease
- Pulmonary vascular disease eg. idiopathic pulmonary hypertension, chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension, Eisenmenger’s syndrome
- Lymphangioleiomyomatosis
- Langerhans cell histiocytosis
