[lockjaw02]

I just have to wonder, with the non-smokers outnumbering smokers in the US by more than 3 to 1, why is there such a shortage of donated lungs available in the first place?

[qam1]

I just have to wonder, with the non-smokers outnumbering smokers in the US by more than 3 to 1, why is there such a shortage of donated lungs available in the first place?

Because smokers aren't necessary "Hogging" all the lungs, I believe the biggest number of recipents for Lung Transplants are people suffering from cystic fibrosis and lungs are fragile .

From the original paper that led to this study which loosened the criteria

Donor Criteria in Lung Transplantation: An Issue Revisited

"At any given time, approximately 3,500 people in this country are waiting for a lung transplant. Unfortunately, only 7 to 22% of multiorgan donors are deemed suitable to become lung donors,1 due to the fragility of the lungs in brain-dead patients and to the lung injury that occurs due to the trauma that often produces organ donors..."

Table 1. Standard Lung Transplant Donor Criteria

Age < 55 yr

ABO blood group compatibility

Clear chest radiograph

PaO2 300 mm Hg on fractional inspired oxygen of 1.0 and positive end-expiratory pressure > 5 cm H2O

< = 20 pack-year smoking history

Absence of chest trauma

No aspiration or sepsis

Gram stain shows sputum sample free of bacteria, fungus, and significant number of WBCs

[qam1]

There is even more B.S.

Successful outcome of lung transplantation is not compromised by the use of marginal donor lungs. June 1995

So they knew all this back in 1995 and did nothing,

20% or more of candidates for lung transplants do not survive to transplantation so for 8 years people have been dying needlessly.

Bastards,

There could be a case for a class action lawsuit against the antis with this.