Infection in the Transplanted and Native Lung After Single Lung Transplantation

To analyze a single-center experience with infectious complications of single lung transplantation (SLT) with special emphasis on risk factors for infection in the transplanted and native lung. Consecutive case series. University teaching hospital. Fifteen consecutive SLT recipients (mean age, 43 years; 9 men and 6 women). Mean follow-up was 337 days. Fifteen patients had 24 infectious episodes (1.6 per patient) of which 83 percent were life-threatening, 79 percent involved the lung, airway, or pleural space, and 79 percent occurred in the first 4 months after transplantation. Despite this high infectious morbidity, there were no infectious deaths. The most important infections were bacterial pneumonia (n = 10), cytomegalovirus (CMV) pneumonia (n = 5), and bronchial anastomotic infections (n=3). Significant risk factors for bacterial pneumonia were a diagnosis of primary or secondary pulmonary hypertension (p