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department of Medicine

Section of pulmonary and critical care medicine

Programs and Services - Lung Transplant

 

Temple University Hospital has become one of the most active lung transplant centers in the nation. The Lung Transplant Program is approved for reimbursement from most managed care plans. Individual insurance plans can be researched by Temple University Hospital on request of referring physicians or prospective patients, which can save many hours of effort for referring physicians, their office staff, patients and their families.

 

Patients referred for lung transplantation receive organs in the order they are placed on the waiting list. Unlike cardiac transplant, severity of illness is not a factor in selecting recipients. For this reason, it is advisable to list lung transplant candidates as early as possible.

 

Temple University Hospital takes an aggressive approach to procuring donor organs. This helps keep waiting times low. A thoracic surgeon and pulmonologist comprise every team sent to examine and harvest donor lungs. This assures the quality of the organ and allows for the maintenance or rehabilitation of the organ to optimum levels, maximizing the chances for successful transplantation.

 

In addition to overall management of each case, the involvement of Temple University Hospital pulmonologists also includes bronchoscopic evaluation of potential donor lungs and salvaging lungs for successful utilization in transplantation by correcting problems related to poor blood gas results.

 

By working closely together, the Temple University Hospital medical/surgical team is able to make a more thorough evaluation, maximizing the availability of usable donor lungs. The team is ready and willing to go anywhere at a moment's notice to examine a potential lung.