When a patient's lung disease has reached its latter stages, lung transplantation is seen to be a possible therapy option. Lung transplant patients have steadily increased in number over the past few decades; the number of cases has at least tripled in the past ten years. Additionally, patients on the waiting list are older and sicker than in the past due to the lengthening of the waiting list and the increase in elderly patients receiving lung transplants. Therefore, effective pre-transplant management and careful candidate selection are crucial for both transplant success and patient survival.
