Photo: Dr. Reda Giris was recently recruited to lead the lung transplant and heart-lung transplant program at Spectrum Health. The program is currently in the application and certification process, but is expecting to perform its first lung transplant by the end of the year. (Emily Zoladz | Mlive.com)
GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Although a lung transplant can be a life-saving, life-enhancing operation, it is a difficult procedure and “is not for everyone,” said Dr. Reda Girgis, the medical director of Spectrum Health’s new program.
“The outcomes are improving but they’re not perfect,” he said. “Unfortunately, it is still a little bit behind other types of transplants.”
The one-year survival rate for lung transplants is 80 to 85 percent, he said. At five years, the survival rate drops to about 55 percent.
“It’s a bigger operation (than other transplants) and has a lot more potential for complications,” he said. “The lung is exposed to the environment by virtue of its location, breathing the air in and out, so it tends to be more susceptible to a variety of infections.”
For that reason, the patients are evaluated carefully before they become a candidate for a transplant.
“Even with those patients may have severe underlying lung disease, we need to be comfortable the disease is severe enough to warrant undertaking that kind of risk,” Girgis said. “We want to make sure the benefits outweigh the risks.”
Read more
{Register to be an organ,eye and tissue donor. To learn how, www.donatelife.net or www.organdonor.gov}
No comments:
Post a Comment