Heart Center Leipzig: Lung transplants successfully resumed

23/02/2024 18:02

Leipzig University Hospital (UKL) and Leipzig Heart Centre have resumed their joint lung transplant program. After a five-year interruption, several patients have already been successfully transplanted by the newly formed joint team of experts from the Heart Center and the UKL since the restart in September 2023. The first patients have already left the hospital.

The signs were not very good for Andreas Pachan in mid-2023: a rare lung disease, pulmonary Langerhans cell histiocytosis, had been inexorably destroying the tissue in his lungs since his diagnosis in 1992. A transplant was the last chance for the 52-year-old, who had been undergoing treatment at Leipzig University Hospital for years. His lung function had continued to deteriorate during this time. The once athletic man lacked the air for everything, even tying his shoes. Jogging, cycling or working was out of the question. A transplant in a distant center did not seem feasible to the Erfurt resident. So it was his chance that the doctors treating him, led by Prof. Hubert Wirtz and Dr. Alexandra Wald in the Department of Pneumology at the UKL, reactivated the dormant lung transplant program in Leipzig in September 2023 together with the thoracic surgeons at the University Hospital and the Heart Center Leipzig.

Pachan became the first patient to receive a new lung here in five years. He had to wait seven weeks before receiving the call on November 14 that an organ had been found. That same evening, he was operated on at the Heart Center. A mixed team of doctors from both clinics stood at the operating table.

12 hours of surgery for the new lung

"The patient had undergone several previous operations, which made it a rather complicated and therefore longer than average operation," reports Prof. Matthias Steinert, Head of Thoracic Surgery at the UKL. The thoracic surgeon and his colleagues spent twelve hours in the operating theater in order to transfer the new organ in the best possible way. "But the operation went according to plan, after five hours we had completed the crucial first part and knew that the lung was working," says Steinert, who had already transplanted lungs before moving to Leipzig in 2020. Now, for the first time, he worked hand in hand with Dr. Alexey Dashkevich from the Heart Center. The heart surgeon came to Leipzig in 2023 and also brought a wealth of experience in this field with him.

"In this case, various pre-existing conditions and the patient's difficult pre-operative physical constitution made the transplant difficult. The procedure was therefore very demanding and challenging for everyone involved. This makes the positive outcome all the more pleasing for us."

PD Dr. med. Alexey Dashkevich, Senior Consultant at the University Clinic for Cardiac Surgery/ Head of the HTX and VAD Program | Heart Center Leipzig

The procedure was also exhausting for the patient: Andreas Pachan underwent four weeks of intensive medical treatment, recovering only slowly and with minor setbacks due to his previous poor condition. Among other things, he now has to rebuild lost muscle mass and practise walking again - which is why, as always after a lung transplant, he is not going home after his stay in hospital but to a rehabilitation clinic.

"I hope that my legs recover quickly and that I can really enjoy my new life after the transplant," says Andreas Pachan, looking ahead. He has lots of plans for this: buying a bike and going out with his brother. "And I want to take my daughters to the Baltic Sea and go for walks on the beach."

The chances are good that patients with a new lung can gain many more years of life with little or no restrictions. Prof. Hubert Wirtz, Head of Pneumology at the UKL, still sees many of the 240 patients transplanted in Leipzig regularly for follow-up care. "One has been coming for 20 years," says the lung expert, who started the Leipzig lung transplant program in 1999 with surgeons from the Heart Center. "That's not the norm, but it's also an option for how life with the new organ can go, especially for younger transplant patients." In any case, the Leipzig doctors will accompany Andreas Pachan on his further journey - he will come to the University Hospital every three months for follow-up care.

"This was the first lung transplant that we have performed at Herzzentrum Leipzig in five years. The successful transplant is the result of the good cooperation with Leipzig University Hospital. Thanks to the interdisciplinary and cross-clinic cooperation, we were able to provide the patient with the best possible treatment."

Prof. Michael A. Borger, MD PhD, Medical Director, Director of the University Clinic for Cardiac Surgery (Head of Department Cardiac Surgery) | Heart Center Leipzig

"Thanks to the very good cooperation and coordination with Heart Center Leipzig, we have been able to form an outstanding and optimally coordinated team here, which makes such cooperation across institutional boundaries possible," adds Prof. Christoph Josten, Medical Director of the UKL. "This means that the range of transplants in Saxony is once again complete. I am sure that this good start will be followed by many more organ transplants, with which we can help people here locally, but also nationwide. The current development is optimistic - we have already been able to carry out the third transplant," said Josten.

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