The decision to perform a lung transplant depends on many factors. These include:
- Patients’ overall health
- Severity of the lung disease
- Availability of suitable donor lungs
- Patient preferences and treatment goals
- Our lung experts partner with patients and their families to choose the most appropriate treatment.
Lung transplantation aims to prolong life and improve its quality. If, after a thorough evaluation, we believe that a lung transplant is the best treatment option for a patient – and he or she wishes to pursue this option – the patient’s name is added to the national United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) waiting list.
Wait status is dictated by the severity of the patient’s illness and the availability of suitable donor lungs. Due to the shortage of donor lungs, the wait time for lung transplantation can be a year or more – although UT Southwestern’s median wait time is significantly shorter than it is at many other centers.
