The societal impact of single versus bilateral lung transplantation for chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

ABSTRACT:

Rationale

Bilateral lung transplantation (BLT) improves survival compared with single lung transplantation (SLT) for some individuals with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). However, it is unclear which strategy optimally uses this scarce societal resource.

Objectives

To compare the effect of SLT versus BLT strategies for COPD on waitlist outcomes among the broader population of patients listed for lung transplantation.

Methods

We developed a Markov model to simulate the transplant waitlist using transplant registry data to define waitlist size, donor frequency, the risk of death awaiting transplant, and disease- and procedure-specific post-transplant survival. We then applied this model to 1,000 simulated patients and compared the number of patients under

SUBMITTER: Munson JC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3262042 | biostudies-literature | 2011 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature