Lung Transplant Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Lung Transplant, including details on risks, prognosis, procedure, surgery, organ donation.

Emerging drugs in lung transplantation.

Mankidy B, Kesavan RB, Silay YS, Haddad TJ, Seethamraju H

Baylor College of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Pulmonary and Critical Care, Lung transplant program, Houston, Texas, USA.

The balance between immunosuppression to ensure graft tolerance while preventing emergence of infectious complications is key in lung transplantation. Although opportunistic infection may appear to be the most important of these complications, malignancies and severe drug toxicities significantly affect the short- and long-term outcomes of the patients. The present practice is combination therapy using drugs with complementary immunosuppressive action, to achieve synergistic immunosuppression with the lowest possible toxicity. Components of immunosuppression include induction and maintenance regimens. Primary graft failure remains an important cause of mortality and morbidity in the immediate post-transplant period. Acute rejection is a common complication after lung transplant, but responds well to augmented immunosuppression and immunomodulation. Chronic rejection still is the major cause of mortality in patients who survive the initial year post-transplantation. Several new drugs have shown promise in decreasing the rate of loss of graft function. This review discusses the current and emerging therapeutic regimens.

Published 14 March 2007 in Expert Opin Emerg Drugs, 12(1): 61-73.
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