Lung Transplant Program

Your child will have very close follow-up with the transplant team after leaving the hospital. This will allow for close monitoring of your child and the function of the transplanted lung. Follow-up visits will include the following:

Keeping appointments with your child's transplant physician, as well as maintaining contact with the transplant team when signs and symptoms of rejection occur, is vital.

Parents (and the recipient, when old enough) are the first line of defense; they must understand and recognize the signs and symptoms of rejection and infection, and report them as soon as possible to the transplant team.

Rejection is a normal reaction of the body to a foreign object. When a new lung is placed in your child's body, the body sees the transplanted organ as a threat and tries to attack it.

The immune system may try to destroy the new organ, not realizing that the transplanted lung is beneficial. To allow the organ to successfully live in a new body, medications must be given to suppress the immune system to prevent it from attacking, or rejecting, the transplanted organ.

What are the symptoms of rejection?

The following are the most common signs and symptoms of rejection. However, each child may experience symptoms differently. Symptoms may include:

What is done to prevent rejection?

Medications must be given for the rest of the child's life to fight rejection. Some of the anti-rejection medications most commonly used include the following:

Blood tests are performed periodically to measure the amount of medication in the body to ensure your child does not get too much or too little of the medication.

What about infection?

The risk of infection is especially great in the first few months because higher doses of anti-rejection medicines are given during this time. Your child will most likely need to take medications to prevent other infections from occurring. Some of the infections your child will be especially susceptible to include oral yeast infection (thrush), other fungal infections, bacterial infections, and viral infections such as herpes and respiratory viruses.

Living with a transplant is a life-long process. Medications must be given to suppress the immune system so it will not attack the transplanted organ. Other medications must be given to prevent infections and side effects of the anti-rejection medications.

Frequent visits to and contact with the transplant team are essential. Knowing the symptoms of organ rejection (and watching for them on a daily basis) is critical. When your child becomes old enough, he will need to learn about anti-rejection medications (what they do and the signs of rejection), so he can eventually care for himself independently.

How long a child can be expected to live after a lung transplant is uncertain. Every child is unique and every transplant is different. Results continually improve as physicians and scientists learn more about how the body deals with transplanted organs and search for ways to improve transplantation.