Infant lung transplantation outcomes

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Palomar et al report a unique experience regarding lung transplantation for infants with lethal lung diseases. The 5-year survival is about 30%; clearly, lung transplantation is a limited option for the occasional family that chooses this experimental treatment. Long-term survival information is not available. The indications for lung transplantation are multiple and include infants with progressive parenchymal and pulmonary vascular diseases. One genetic cause of lethal parenchymal lung disease is surfactant protein B deficiency. Transplantation of these infants creates an interesting biological experiment. Some of the infants who were SP-B deficient develop anti-SP-B antibodies, but their clinical course did not differ from those transplanted for other reasons. Anti SP-B antibody does not seem to interfere with surfactant function in humans, although it did in experimental models.