Combined Heart-Lung Transplant

Heart-lung transplant, also called a heart lung block is the surgical removal of the heart and lungs at the same time and the patient is given new, healthy organs in their place. Also known as cardiopulmonary transplantation, or a heart-lung block, patients who need this procedure have end-stage heart and lung disease. While use of the heart-lung transplant is less than what it was even a few years ago, it continues to be a viable alternative for specific patient populations.

For many years, the medical world struggled to transplant the heart and lungs together, but after the development of a variety of newer anti-rejection medications and additional approaches to detect a potential rejection, more patients were able to undergo the process with positive outcomes.