Lung transplantation using donors 55 years and older

Objective: We analyzed short, medium and long-term mortality in transplant recipients who received lungs from donors aged 55 years or more. Patients and methods: All patients who underwent lung transplantation from donors aged 55 years or more were included. The association between the different study variables and early death and death at 1 year and 5 years was studied. A logistic regression model was used to study the association between early death and variables with a trend towards significance (P<.2) in the bivariate analysis. The risk factors for mortality at 1 year and 5 years were analyzed with a Cox regression model. The Kaplan-Meier method was used to analyze survival. Results: A total of 33 patients were included. The probability of survival was 90.9%, 78.5% and 44.8% at 1 month, 1 year, and 5 years after lung transplantation, respectively. The elevated age of the recipient (P=.16) and single-lung transplantation (P=.09) were the variables associated to or with a trend towards significant associations with mortality. Conclusions: The final decision to accept a lung graft should be based on individual evaluation of each donor and recipient. However, given the lack of lung donors, donors aged 55 years or more should be considered for lung transplantation. (C) 2010 Elsevier Espana, S.L. and SEMICYUC. All rights reserved.