St. Louis Children’s Hospital

For appointments call 314.454.KIDS or 800.678.KIDS
E-mail Us

The most active pediatric lung transplant program in the world

Jessica had a living donor lung transplant more than 13 years ago to treat cystic fibrosis.

St. Louis Children's Hospital has performed more than 330 lung and heart-lung transplants since 1990, making it the most active pediatric lung transplant program in the world. Pediatric lung transplants are most commonly performed for cystic fibrosis and pulmonary vascular disease. At St. Louis Children's Hospital, lung transplants are also performed in conjunction with surgical repair of complex heart defects that cause pulmonary hypertension.

Pioneers in infant lung transplant

In 1994, lung transplants were performed for the first time for an unusual genetic disease called pulmonary surfactant protein B (SPB) deficiency. Infants with this condition usually die within days or weeks of birth due to severe respiratory distress. Lung transplantation is now providing a chance at life for these infants while genetic researchers attempt to develop gene therapy for families who carry the defective gene.

The original living donor lung transplant program

Surgeons at St. Louis Children's Hospital and Barnes-Jewish Hospital teamed up in July 1994 to perform the region's first living-donor lung transplant, in which a lobe of two live donors' lungs are transplanted into the recipient. Rarely performed and only by highly skilled and experienced teams, living-donor lung transplant offers a last option for some patients who cannot survive long enough to obtain cadaveric organs. St. Louis Children's Hospital has since performed more than 40 living-donor lung transplants.

For more information on pediatric lung transplants, please call St. Louis Children's Hospital's lung transplant department at 314.454.4131.