Two lung cancer patients received successful double lung transplants, according to Northwestern Medicine. The hospital stated that it is incorporating this success into a new clinical program that will provide patients with terminal lung cancer with transplants.
During a press conference, Tannaz Ameli, the second person with lung cancer to receive the transplant, stated, “Every morning when I open my eyes, like, I just can’t believe it, and life has different meaning now.” Ameli was the recipient of the transplant.
Cellular breakdown in the lungs is right now the third most normal sort of disease in the US after skin malignant growth first, and bosom disease in ladies and prostate disease in men second, as per the CDC. However, lung cancer is the leading cause of death worldwide.
Lung cancer treatment mostly depends on how far the cancer has spread. The tumor can be removed surgically, with targeted medications, chemotherapy, or radiation, depending on the patient. However, not all of these treatments work, and for some people, a lung transplant is the only option.
Since the 1980s, single lung transplants have been successful, and the CDC estimates that more than 1500 single lung transplants are performed annually. However, lung transplants are uncommon for lung cancer.
According to Dr. Ankit Bharat, chief of thoracic surgery and director of Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute, in a press release, this is due to the fact that there is a high risk that cancer cells will spread from the lung into the rest of the body during the procedure, which will increase the likelihood that the cancer will return.
According to Bharat, when a patient requires replacement of both lungs, they are typically removed one at a time. He stated that there is a possibility of the cancer spreading to the rest of the body if the first lung is transplanted while the other cancerous lung is still present.
However, the surgical team at Northwestern Medicine discovered a means to reduce that risk. While the patient is connected to a bypass machine, which diverts their blood away from the heart and lungs, their method enables surgeons to remove the cancerous lung from the patient’s body. During surgery, the risk of the cancer spreading is reduced if blood does not flow through it.
According to Bharat, “We feel quite confident that we’ll be able to help some patients who have no other options.” “Delicately taking both cancer-ridden lungs out at the same time along with the lymph nodes, washing the airways and the chest cavity to clear the cancer, and then putting new lungs in,” he stated, “delicately taking both cancer-ridden lungs out at the same time.”
“We must be extremely meticulous to prevent a single cell spilling into the patient’s chest cavity or blood stream,” he continued, “These patients can have billions of cancer cells in the lungs.”
Albert Khoury, a Chicago man who came to the Northwestern Medicine team in 2021 after chemotherapy failed to treat his stage 4 lung cancer, was the first patient on whom the method was first applied. According to a press release, his condition continued to deteriorate and he was admitted to the intensive care unit.
Dr. Young Chae, an oncologist at Northwestern Medicine, suggested that a double lung transplant might be his only option. Without one, Chae said Khoury wasn’t supposed to live over a year.
Therefore, Khoury became the first person with lung cancer to receive a successful double lung transplant on September 25, 2021, after spending two weeks on the transplant list.
A year later, stage 4 lung cancer was also given to Minnesota resident Ameli. She stated that she tried chemotherapy, but it was insufficient, just as it was for Albert Khoury. Her significant other had seen a video about Khoury’s method, she said, and he planned a meeting with a specialist at Northwestern Medication. She was a candidate, and in July 2022, she had her second successful double lung transplant.
“We’re so cheerful,” Ameli said at the press preparation. ” I returned. I succeeded. I created it.
Northwestern Medicine is launching a first-of-its-kind clinical program for people with end-stage lung disease as a result of these successes.
In a brand-new research registry known as DREAM (Double Lung Transplant Registry Aimed for Lung-limited Malignancies), the program intends to monitor the outcomes of its first 75 patients who receive double lung transplants for lung cancer. Researchers hope to track overall survival, disease-free survival, and transplant rejection rates using the data from the DREAM research registry, even though patients can receive a double lung transplant as part of the clinical program without signing up.
Ameli stated, “I hope that all cancer patients can be as fortunate as Albert and I were.” We are thankful for every day we wake up.”
