lung transplant Archives

Zach Lloyd spent 95 days on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, after contracting COVID-19.

COVID recovery included long stay on ECMO, double-lung transplant

Apr. 1, 2021—Zach Lloyd was only 37 years old with no pre-existing health conditions, but COVID-19 was bringing him within an inch of his life.

Pam Everett-Smith is the longest-surviving single-lung transplant patient known in the United States, having received her transplant 30 years ago.

Transplant patient celebrates milestone 30th anniversary

Feb. 3, 2021—Pam Everett-Smith celebrated a milestone this past November — 30 years since she received a lung transplant at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She is the longest-surviving single-lung transplant patient known in the United States.

COVID patient’s heart-lung transplant is world’s first

Oct. 8, 2020—Vanderbilt University Medical Center has performed the world’s first dual heart-lung transplant of a COVID-19 patient.

Human lungs rejected for transplant recovered using novel technique

Jul. 13, 2020—A multidisciplinary team from Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Columbia University has demonstrated that injured human donor lungs declined for transplant can be recovered by cross-circulation between the human lung and a xenogeneic host.

Vanderbilt Transplant Center sets monthly record

Jun. 8, 2020—The Vanderbilt Transplant Center performed 73 transplants in May, setting a Medical Center record for the most transplants in a month. Sixteen of those were heart transplants — also a monthly record — cementing VUMC’s status as the busiest heart transplant center in the country.

Rehab technique may help increase donor lung supply

Apr. 30, 2020—A new technique shows the potential to increase the supply of donor lungs by rehabilitating those organs previously considered too damaged for transplant.

VUMC performs its first transplant using rehabilitated lungs

Aug. 1, 2019—For the first time at Vanderbilt, doctors have performed a transplantation with donated lungs that were rehabilitated using a procedure called ex vivo lung perfusion.

Elizabeth “Betsy” Barbour and her late husband, Richard, created a fund to help support Vanderbilt’s lung transplant patient assistance fund.

Couple’s transplant journey continues by helping others

Jul. 25, 2019—Elizabeth “Betsy” Barbour and her late husband, Richard, created a fund to help support Vanderbilt’s lung transplant patient assistance fund.

Rehab technique may boost supply of donor lungs

May. 9, 2019—A new regeneration technique could potentionally add to a limited supply of donor organs for an increasing population with end-stage lung disease.

Past and present members of the Vanderbilt Transplant Center, guests and patients attended a celebration of VUMC’s 500th lung transplant at the Student Life Center Feb. 5. Shown here are (back row, from left) Matthew Bacchetta, MD, MBA, MA; Ivan Robbins, MD; Eric Grogan, MD, MPH; and Eric Lambright, MD; (front row, from left) James Loyd, MD; Pam Smith; Erin Gillaspie, MD, MPH; Andy Bolden and Ciara Shaver, MD, PhD. Bolden is the recipient of the 500th lung transplant at Vanderbilt, and Smith, who was transplanted at Vanderbilt in 1990, is the longest-surviving single-lung transplant patient in the United States. Vanderbilt performed its first combined heart/lung transplant in 1987 and its first single-lung transplant in 1990.

Celebrating a transplant milestone

Feb. 14, 2019—Past and present members of the Vanderbilt Transplant Center, guests and patients attended a celebration of VUMC’s 500th lung transplant at the Student Life Center Feb. 5.

Andy Bolden, second from right, is Vanderbilt Transplant Center’s 500th lung transplant patient. Here, he’s with, from left, Matthew Bacchetta, MD, Eric Lambright, MD, and Ivan Robbins, MD.

Transplant Center reaches lung transplant milestone

Jan. 31, 2019—Alabama resident Andy Bolden spent much of the last five years on the couch, having difficulty doing something many people take for granted — breathing.

Bacchetta to help expand pulmonary surgery program

Oct. 25, 2018—Matthew Bacchetta, MD, MBA, MA, has joined the Department of Thoracic Surgery as an associate professor and the surgical director of a new respiratory institute at Vanderbilt University Medical Center that will be launched soon.