Lung Homotransplantation in Man

THE TECHNICAL FEASIBILITY of lung replantation and homotransplantation in animals was established by the work of previous investigators.1, 2It was found that occasionally a dog could survive temporarily on the function of the lung homotransplant alone, especially if the respiratory reflexes from the unexcised lung had been preserved. Preservation of these reflexes with exclusion of pulmonary function in this "normal" or contralateral lung was achieved by ligation of the pulmonary artery on this side. In addition to studies demonstrating that either a reimplanted lung or a homotransplanted lung could function fairly effectively to provide a significant degree of pulmonary function, the use of various agents in dogs to suppress the immune response had permitted substantial prolongation of the survival of lung homografts. In our own experience, the lung homograft had been rejected in untreated dogs in an average of from seven to eight days, whereas in dogs