A Guide to Lung Transplantation

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Why Lung Transplants Are Needed

What Lungs Do When They Are Healthy

Every cell in your body requires oxygen to do its job. When a cell uses oxygen, it produces carbon dioxide which has to be quickly removed. In a healthy person, there is a constant, steady flow of oxygen TO cells and carbon dioxide AWAY from cells and out of the body.

Your lungs have the all-important job of providing the oxygen your body needs and expelling the carbon dioxide. The lungs do their job when you breathe—oxygen IN, carbon dioxide OUT. The larger airways of the lung—the bronchi and bronchioles—are conducting airways that function as conducting pipes for oxygen and carbon dioxide. Deeper inside the lung are the tiny respiratory bronchioles and alveoli—the respiratory zone—where oxygen-carbon dioxide exchange actually takes place. Your blood carries oxygen FROM the respiratory zone of the lung to cells and carries carbon dioxide TO the respiratory zone of the lungs for disposal up and out the conducting airways when you exhale. Your heart is the pump that propels blood to and from the lungs.

When lungs are healthy, they are very efficient, and you are rarely aware of the automatic process of breathing. The only times you feel "short of breath" is when your lungs have to work harder to supply oxygen and get rid of carbon dioxide—for example, when you exercise hard or when oxygen is in short supply at high altitude.

What Happens When Your Lungs Are Not Healthy

When lungs are not healthy, you may feel "short of breath" and fatigued all the time. This chronic short-of-breath feeling is an alarm call from your body cells. Unhealthy or damaged lungs are not able to keep the flow and exchange of oxygen and carbon dioxide moving at the rate your cells need to function efficiently. The cells then send out an alarm that tells you to work harder at breathing—much like your body cells send a thirsty-feeling alarm that makes you want to drink more when there is a danger of dehydration.

This constant fatigue and struggle to breathe degrades your quality of life. Your life may even be shortened if your body is chronically unable to get enough oxygen and remove carbon dioxide. If your lungs are so damaged that even extra oxygen and artificial breathing assistance are inadequate to improve your condition, you may be a candidate for lung transplantation. Physicians on the lung transplant team will assess your status to determine whether you meet the conditions that may qualify you for a transplant: severe end-stage pulmonary disease for which there is no alternative treatment, progressive disability, and life expectancy of 2 years or less.

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