Advances and perspectives in heart/lung transplantation

Thoracic organ transplantation has evolved as standard therapy in end-stage cardiac and pulmonary failure. Meanwhile more than 50.000 heart, 2500 hear t-lung and 10.000 lung transplantations have been performed worldwide. Impr ovements in patient selection as well as in the postoperative management ha ve led to 1-year survival rates of 70-90 %. Long-term results are still inf luenced by the development of graft vessel disease, bronchiolitis obliteran s syndrome and malignancies. Furthermore, indications and results of differ ent procedures will be presented and new developments discussed.