Using smokers’ lungs in more transplants ‘will save lives’

LUNGS from heavy smokers should be more widely used in transplants to boost the number of life-saving operations taking place, says a leading charity.

Despite the increased risks of getting cancer, doctors argue more patients with terminal illnesses, such as cystic fibrosis, should be given the choice of having ‘reconditioned’ lungs from a smoker or older person, which can give them years of extra life.

Dozens of patients in Britain die every year while waiting for ‘perfect’ lungs, they say, when their lives would be prolonged if surgeons were able to use more ‘sub-optimal’ organs.

The proposals have been drawn up by transplant surgeons and the Cystic Fibrosis Trust, who are writing to Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt to try to persuade him to relax guidelines that control the quality of donor lungs.

Smokers’ lungs are already used in four in ten transplant operations in Britain. But researchers say this could be increased to more than half if doctors were less selective.

Andrew Fisher, professor of respiratory transplant medicine at Newcastle University, said lungs from the heaviest smokers could be used more frequently. He added: ‘Common sense suggests accepting lungs from a donor who smokes can’t be healthy.

‘But what is more risky? To wait for a “perfect lung” that may never arrive, or take one that may not be ideal?’ He said evidence showed patients who received a smoker’s lungs were 20 per cent less likely to die within three years than those who stayed on the waiting list.

Prof Fisher said technological advances meant poorer-quality lungs could be reconditioned using a machine he has helped create. He said: ‘The exvivo lung perfusion machine improves condition of the organ by exposing them to a nutrient solution and oxygen.’

But the appeal comes just 18 months after cystic fibrosis sufferer Jennifer Wederell, 27, died of lung cancer following a double transplant. She was told the lungs came from a heavy smoker only after the cancer was spotted. Last night her widower David Wederell, 29, said: ‘We should not prevent someone from becoming a donor, smokers included. But we must ensure the transplant process is totally transparent.’

He said they were told Jennifer had the killer disease months after the transplant they thought would save her. ‘We were incredulous this hadn’t been mentioned before her transplant. Jennifer spent seven months enduring gruelling cancer treatment and died a painful, tortuous death.’

The charity also wants lungs from elderly donors to be used more.