OBJECTIVE: To describe the development of the lung transplantation programme in Groningen, and the results of single and bilateral lung transplantations in the first 75 consecutive patients, up to December 1995.DESIGN: Retrospective.SETTING: Academic Hospital Groningen, the Netherlands.METHODS: The results of the lung transplantation programme were evaluated retrospectively.RESULTS: In November 1990 the first unilateral lung transplantation was performed in Groningen in a patient with pulmonary fibrosis. In February 1991 a national lung transplantation programme for the Netherlands was instituted in Groningen by the government. Of 500 patients referred from all over the Netherlands from 1990 to December 1995, 75 were transplanted, 16 unilaterally and 59 bilaterally. The actuarial survival for all patients was 85% after 1 year and 72% after 2 years. After transplantation 16 patients died (21%) after 15 months follow-up (median). Early mortality (5%) was caused by graft failure, late mortality (16%) by chronic rejection and lymphoproliferative disease. The mean time on the transplantation waiting list was 9.3 months; it increased during the programme. The limiting factor for further expansion of the programme was caused by donor scarcity. The lungs from only 16% of the multiorgan donors reported by Eurotransplant to our centre could be transplanted.CONCLUSION: The results of the lung transplantation programme in Groningen are good but with an increasing number of lung transplantation centres in the Eurotransplant region the further development of lung transplantation in the Netherlands will depend mainly on the availability of lung donors from the Netherlands.
Adolescent Adult