In what condition lung transplant is done?

Lung transplant, commonly known as pulmonary transplant is a medical procedure of replacing the damaged lungs of a patient with healthy lungs coming from a deceased donor. Lung transplantation has proved to be a boon for people suffering from chronic pulmonary diseases. BLK Hospital, which is the best hospital in India offers the facility of organ transplantation which is at par with International standards, that too at comparatively lower costs.  The hospital has helped to give an impetus to the medical tourism for organ transplantation in India as well. Lung transplant has provided a new ray of hope to many patients as it is the patient and new chance at life.

Lungs play a major role the respiratory system. These are a pair of soong like, air filled bags located on the either side of the thoracic cavity. The lungs help us to take oxygen from the atmosphere as well as release carbon dioxide generated by the body back into the atmosphere. The lungs continue to function as long as a person is and if the lungs stop to function properly, it will hinder the oxygen supply to various organs which can even lead to the death of the patient.

Our lungs can however be affected by a number of problems which can drastically affect the whole respiratory system. Although problems can be easily treated with the help of medication but in case of chronic problems like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (emphysema and chronic bronchitis), idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, cystic fibrosis and idiopathic pulmonary arterial hypertension, a lung transplant may be required. The reason behind this is that  such diseases can adversely affect the patient's lungs and damage all the healthy living tissue.

People above the age of 60 are not considered to be good candidates for the surgery. Before the transplant the doctors consider other non surgical treatments and proceed only if no positive results are obtained. Before the procedure, the patient needs to undergo a number of screenings and tests to figure out a proper medical procedure to be undertaken.

Arranging a donor in time is also a challenge as a lot of factors have to be kept in mind and the donor as to fulfil certain eligibility criteria. The donor should have healthy working lungs and should not be suffering from any harmful medical condition. Usually people who lost their life in an accident are considered to be the best candidates however it should be made sure that the lungs were not damaged during the accident. Also the blood group of the donor should be the same as that of the patient. You can find organ banks in some of the best hospitals in India, where organs of deceased people a stored at a very low temperature to be used in case of emergency. Earlier people used to travel to other countries for organ transplantation but with the use of technological advancements of various kinds and the persistent efforts of various medical scientist, organ transplantation in India has gained a lot of popularity and has attracted foreign patients as well.