New double lung transplant technique is successful in two late-stage cancer patients
A double lung transplant was successful in late-stage cancer patients for the first time. Northwestern Medicine surgeons performed the operation.
A novel treatment for certain late-stage lung cancers has succeeded in the first two patients to undergo the operation.
Using knowledge learned during the Covid pandemic, surgeons at Northwestern Medicine in Chicago successfully performed double lung transplantations in two patients with stage 4 cancer. Both patients are alive and well.
When the cancer spreads from one lung to the other, and doesn’t respond to standard treatments, including radiation and chemotherapy, patients are typically left with no options.
That was the case for Albert Khoury, 55, of Chicago, who was diagnosed with lung cancer in early 2020. Initially, his tumors were concentrated in just one lung. But despite two rounds of chemotherapy, the cancer had spread to the other lung. It was stage 4.
“They told me, ‘Just spend time with your siblings. You have a few months to live,’” he said.
Rating: 5