new Data monitoring report will assess key metrics six months after implementation of the current lung allocation system, which took effect on March 9, 2023.
The lungs were the first organ to adopt a flexible, patient-centered system known as . continuous distribution. In the current system, each lung candidate is assigned a single unique score per match run that combines multiple factors to determine its priority.This policy projected Reducing deaths among patients on the waiting list and increasing lung transplants for the most medically urgent candidates. Since implementation, there has been a 26.1 percent decrease in candidates removed from the waiting list due to death or illness that makes them unable to receive a transplant (from 111 before the policy to 82 after the policy).
Other important points:
- No negative effect on lung utilization (pre-policy utilization 16.7%, post-policy utilization 17.9%)1)
- Data shows that in the post-policy period, the most medically urgent patients have the shortest wait times for transplant compared to the remaining candidates on the waiting list.2
- The overall travel distance from donor hospital to transplant hospital increased in the post-policy era compared to the pre-policy era (from 195 nautical miles to 353 nautical miles). Additionally, candidates with the greatest medical urgency have the longest travel distances in the post-policy era.
The report also shows a decline in the number of transplants for type O recipients (from 646 before the policy to 601 after the policy).a policy change The policy to improve access to transplantation for type O candidates took effect on September 27, 2023, but the report’s post-policy period collected data through September 8, 2023. Therefore, additional data regarding changes in blood group policy will be monitored. In the coming months.
The report has been submitted below. OPTN Lung Transplant Committee October 27, 2023. Subsequent monitoring reports will be published annually on the OPTN website for the next three years. briefing paper. The Lung Committee will continue to monitor this policy to understand whether the changes are achieving their intended goals.
1 The pre-policy period was defined as September 6, 2022 to March 8, 2023, and the post-policy period was defined as March 9, 2023 to September 8, 2023.
2 For lung candidates with a medical urgency of 2.5 or higher at the time of publication, the median wait time for transplantation was 6 days. For candidates with medical urgency below her 2.5 points, the median wait time to transplant was up to 55 days.
