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News on lung transplant outcomes

The following story appeared in the Washington Post. As lung transplants are a topic of interest to many in the Hermansky-Pudlak Syndrome community, I thought some of you might be interested in this information. Donna pointed the study out to me. Happy reading:


Lung Transplant Outcomes Better at High-Volume Hospitals


» Links to this article Wednesday, January 28, 2009; 12:00 AM

WEDNESDAY, Jan. 28 (HealthDay News) -- Hospitals that perform at least 20 lung transplants a year have the lowest death rates for this complex procedure, according to Johns Hopkins researchers.

They said their findings could serve as a patient safety benchmark or standard for hospitals nationwide.

The researchers analyzed data from the 79 American and Canadian medical centers that perform lung transplants. At the roughly 20 institutions that perform, on average, 20 or more lung transplants a year, the chances of an organ recipient surviving the critical first month after transplant are more than 95 percent, and the chances of surviving the first year are 83 percent. The rates in hospitals that perform two or fewer lung transplants per year are 90 percent and 73 percent, respectively.

To read the full article, go to: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/01/28/AR2009012802661.html

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