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The Pediatric Lung Transplant Program at Children's Hospital Boston focuses on evaluating, transplanting and providing long-term care for children and young adults with chronic lung diseases. Since the
program's inception in 1990, 60 bilateral, single and heart-lung transplants have been performed, making it one of the busiest pediatric transplantation programs in the country.
Program basics:
The multidisciplinary lung transplant team includes a pulmonologist, cardiologist, cardiothoracic surgeon, anesthesiologist, immunologist and nutritionist. Pediatric experts from other sub-specialties at Children's join the care team as needed. Child Life Specialists, psychologists, social workers and resource specialists provide supportive care before, during and after transplant. As part of the Pediatric Transplant Center, patients benefit from a collaborative, interdisciplinary team of transplant specialists who share knowledge across disciplines to optimize treatment and follow-up care.
What the program offers:
Patient evaluation and pre-transplant care. Placement on the national organ transplant waiting list and coordination of donor services; arrangement of supportive care, including mechanical bridge to transplant (extracorporeal membrane oxygenation), when necessary. The expertise of the largest and busiest pediatric cardiothoracic surgery program in the country. Interaction with a number of highly specialized programs at Children's, such as the Cystic Fibrosis Center, Pulmonary Hypertension, Pulmonary Vein Stenosis, Infant Lung Disease and End-Stage Lung Disease programs. Focused post-transplant care addressing topics like medical compliance, returning to school and the transition to adulthood.
Research studies underway:
The pediatric lung transplant team is involved in a multi-center drug study evaluating inhaled cyclosporine in the prevention and treatment of chronic rejection. They are also examining the relationship of exercise and rehabilitation to outcomes in pediatric lung transplantation, and are part of an innovative drug clinical trial for patients with pulmonary vein stenosis at Children's.
As a member of the International Pediatric Lung Transplantation Collaboration, the team is evaluating quality of life in pediatric lung transplantation patients, right ventricular remodeling after lung transplantation for pulmonary hypertension and the role of respiratory infections in lung allograft survival.
Basic science studies and lung transplant models currently focus on evaluating mechanisms of rejection and possible novel therapies to improve long-term graft survival.
Make an appointment: 617-355-66818
More information: childrenshospital.org/lungtx
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