A lung transplant removes a person's diseased lung and replaces it with a healthy one. The healthy lung comes from a donor who has died. Some people get one lung during a transplant. Other people get two.
Lung transplants are used for people who are likely to die from lung disease within 1 to 2 years. Their conditions are so severe that other treatments, such as medicines or breathing devices, no longer work. Lung transplants most often are used to treat people who have severe
COPD
Cystic fibrosis
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis
Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency
Pulmonary hypertension
Complications of lung transplantation include rejection of the transplanted lung and infection.
NIH: National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
