Important: This page is general information, not medical advice. It does not recommend or prescribe any treatment. Always consult your doctor or pharmacist before starting, stopping or changing any medicine.
About Lung Transplantation
A lung transplant removes a person's diseased lung and replaces it with a healthy one. The healthy lung comes from a donor who has died. Some people get one lung during a transplant. Other people get two.
Lung transplants are used for people who are likely to die from lung disease within 1 to 2 years. Their conditions are so severe that other treatments, such as medicines or breathing devices, no longer work. Lung transplants most often are used to treat people who have severe:
- COPD
- Cystic fibrosis
- Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
- Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency
- Pulmonary hypertension
Complications of lung transplantation include rejection of the transplanted lung and infection.
It sits within Lungs and Breathing and Transplantation and Donation.
The lead U.S. institute for this subject is the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
When to speak to someone. Reading about a topic cannot tell you whether it applies to you. Speak to a doctor or pharmacist if symptoms are severe, sudden, getting worse, or simply not going away — and seek emergency care immediately for chest pain, breathing difficulty, sudden weakness or confusion, or a serious allergic reaction.
Research on Lung Transplantation
972 studies areregistered for this condition on ClinicalTrials.gov, the U.S. National Library of Medicine's public registry. A selection is below — the links go straight to the registry entry, not to a summary of ours.
What a registered study does and does not mean. Registration means a study exists and has been declared publicly. It says nothing about whether the treatment being tested works, is safe, or is available to you. Many studies find no benefit — that is what research is for. Never seek out an experimental treatment on the strength of a registry entry alone.
Research currently under way
- Syk Inhibition in MItigating Lung Allograft Rejection (SIMILAR): A Trial to Evaluate the Safety and Tolerability of Fostamatinib in Lung Transplant Patients With Donor-Specific AntibodiesNational Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
- Fibrotic Disease Activity in Cardiopulmonary Disorders Using 18F-Fibroblast Activation Protein Inhibitor (18F-FAPI-74) PET/CT ImagingNational Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
- Donor Lymphocyte Infusion After Allogeneic Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation for High-Risk Hematologic MalignanciesNational Cancer Institute (NCI)
- A Study Evaluating Persistence of the Immune Response of the Adjuvanted Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Vaccine and the Safety and Immune Response Following Revaccination in Adults 18 Years of Age and Above Who Received Lung or Kidney TransplantGlaxoSmithKline
- REGEND001 Autologous Basal Layer Stem Cell Transplantation for Interstitial Lung Disease (ILD): A Translational Application StudyRuijin Hospital
- Alvelestat (MPH966), an Oral Neutrophil Elastase Inhibitor, in Bronchiolitis Obliterans Syndrome After Allogeneic Hematopoietic Stem Cell TransplantationNational Cancer Institute (NCI)
Research already completed
- Implementation of a Clinical Tool to Improve Waitlist Mortality in Patients With Cystic FibrosisThe Cleveland Clinic
- TEE and Dysphagia in Lung TransplantationUniversity of California, Los Angeles
- Isavuconazole Therapeutic Drug Monitoring in Transplant RecipientsZhibin Xu
Study data from ClinicalTrials.gov, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine. Retrieved 2026-07-30. Registry entries are supplied by study sponsors and investigators; ClinicalTrials.gov does not verify their scientific validity. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH.
Where to read more
Rather than paraphrase, we point you to the primary sources. Every link below is to a government health agency, a national institute or a recognised medical body — grouped by what you are trying to find out.
Start Here
- Lung TransplantMayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research
- Lung TransplantAmerican Lung Association
Treatments and Therapies
- Lung Disease TreatmentsNational Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
Living With
- Long-Term ComplicationsJohns Hopkins Medicine
- Lung Transplant Infection Precaution Fast FactsJohns Hopkins Medicine
- Nutrition and Food SafetyJohns Hopkins Medicine
- Typical Daily ScheduleJohns Hopkins Medicine
Statistics and Research
- OPTN/SRTR Annual Data ReportScientific Registry of Transplant Recipients
Clinical Trials
- ClinicalTrials.gov: Lung TransplantationNational Institutes of Health
Medical subject headings
Clinicians and researchers index this subject under Lung Transplantation. These are the terms to use when searching medical literature.
This page is built from the MedlinePlus health topic record for Lung Transplantation, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine (NLM), National Institutes of Health. Information is from MedlinePlus.gov. PocketsInfo is not affiliated with, and is not endorsed by, the NLM or the NIH. Retrieved 30 July 2026.