Our Approach

The Evaluation Process

Referral

The evaluation process begins with a referral by your family doctor or pulmonologist. You can initiate the process by contacting our referral coordinator at 800.257.0757. The coordinator will collect basic medical information and our financial counselor will contact you to provide advice on basic financial questions and begin contact with relevant insurers.

Evaluation

We believe all other medical therapies should be considered before transplant. Patients with the following problems usually don’t qualify for a lung transplant:

• Severe debilitation or ventilator dependence
• Severe renal, liver or cardiac disease
• Active tobacco use (including smoking, chewing, snuff, etc.)
• Active alcohol or drug abuse (last 6 months)
• Inability to follow a complicated medical regimen
• HIV/AIDS
• Active hepatitis infection
• Active cancer
• Obesity (Body Mass Index (BMI) > 30)
  

Patients go through an evaluation to assess their need for a transplant. This includes several visits and tests, including lung function tests, exercise tests, chest X-rays, ventilation scans, chest CAT scans and more. The entire process may take some weeks.

• Lung patient education handbook for pre-transplant (PDF)
  

Recommendation

We then recommend a prescribed program of care, including findings on the suitability of transplant and next steps in the process.

Waiting for An Organ

Waiting List

All appropriate candidates are presented to the Selection Committee, which considers placement on the national waiting list. This takes place after all testing and evaluation is done.

The wait list for transplant organs is managed nationwide by a federally regulated, non-profit organization called the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS). UNOS uses a complex set of factors to ensure distribution of organs is handled fairly.

Lungs at UVA are obtained through LifeNet, Virginia's organ procurement organization, or through UNOS. Lungs are offered to the first person on the list within a reachable geographic area and according to each patient’s Lung Allocation Score (LAS), which is calculated using medical information including lab values, test results and disease diagnosis. This is a acuity score.

The average waiting time varies by LAS score, and may be as short as a few weeks or as long as several years.

While You Wait…

We encourage patients to participate in a Pulmonary Rehabilitation Program. It can help improve quality of life before transplant and speed recovery after surgery.

We also sponsor a monthly Heart and Lung Transplant Support Group on the fourth Thursday of every month from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Meetings are open to patients, family members and friends. For more information, contact us at 800.257.0757.