Research Projects within the Lung Transplant Program
The lung transplant team is committed to continually improving care for our patients and to generating new knowledge in the field of lung transplantation. Below are some of the areas we are currently researching. Please refer to our lung faculty page for a list of our team member's individual research interests.Ischemia Reperfusion Injury
When lungs are kept on ice for several hours and then reconnected to the circulation, a form of damage may occur called reperfusion injury. In up to 20% of patients, this can be a significant problem leading to both short and long term morbidity and death. Dr. Shah in the Cardiac Surgery Laboratory is exploring new drugs to help prevent this, by treating the organ donor prior to recovery. Preconditioning the donor lungs may protect them from injury after implantation and a variety of drugs are being tested. If new lungs can be protected, fewer patients will die after transplant and long term function of the organ will improve.
Outcomes After Transplantation
In conjunction with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the lung transplant team is examining broader issues in transplantation. Together, public health and lung transplant researchers are examining national data to examine medical profiles of patients in order to determine the impact of certain factors on patient outcomes.
- Impact of 'MARPA' on Cystic Fibrosis - The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) has collected and maintained data on individuals who have undergone lung transplantations in the U.S. By examining UNOS data, the Hopkins team is seeking to determine the effect of multiple antibiotic resistant pseudomonas aeruginosa (MARPA) on cystic fibrosis outcomes after transplant.
- Impact of the LAS System on Survival - UNOS is also the national organization charged with organ allocation. In May of 2005, UNOS replaced its time-accrual organ allocation system for lung transplant candidates to a system that uses a lung allocation score (LAS). The LAS is designed to prioritize waiting list candidates based on a combination of waitlist urgency and post-transplant survival. Despite this very dramatic change in lung allocation, the overall impact on patient outcomes has not been assessed to date. The lung team is examining national data collected on lung transplant recipients in order to evaluate short term survival after lung transplantation under the new lung allocation system.
