Vanderbilt Lung Transplants Achieve Record-Breaking 99 Procedures in 2024

Vanderbilt Lung Transplant surgeons and team performed 99 lung transplants in 2024, the most ever in a year. The two procedures involved combined organ transplantation.

Over the second calendar year in a row, Vanderbilt's lung transplants have the busiest programme in the Southeast, leading the nation in innovation in organ preservation and regeneration.

The Vanderbilt Transplant Center currently has the eighth largest lung transplant program in the nation at volume, ideal for long-term outcomes, indicating the success of the interdisciplinary team in caring for these complex patients.

This important outcome reflects the coordinated efforts of interdisciplinary collaboration by the thoracic surgery, medicine, anesthesiology and critical care departments.

Achieving critical growth and maintaining high quality results is a challenge. This requires team effort and intentional planning. ”

MATTHEW BACCHETTA, MD, MBA, Surgery Director, Vanderbilt Lung Institute (VLI)

“We are extremely proud of the many people and the auxiliary services we rely on to enable this outcome, especially the advanced lung disease services,” added David Erasmus, MD, medical director of Vanderbilt Lung Transplants.

The Vanderbilt Lung Transplant Surgery Team is led by Conrad Hotzenecker, MD, PhD, Caitlyn Demarest, MD, PhD, PhD, Vanderbilt Lung Transplant Program Director and Associate Surgery Director.

Cardiothoracic anesthesiology (Director Frederick Lombard, Maryland) and anesthesiology care faculty support lung transplant patients through surgery and postoperative ICU care using cutting-edge hemodynamic monitoring and optimization techniques.

Patients are selected for lung transplantation and taken care of on hospital trips, followed for many years by a dedicated team of transplant respiratory surgeons led by Erasmus. Experienced nurse practitioners in Loyd/Advanced Lung Disease services will take care of patients if they are removed from the ICU.

Lung Transplant Leadership also praised a dedicated group of coordinators, clinical pharmacists, social workers and managers for the milestone. Lung transplant recipients benefit greatly from the expertise in many other services available from Vanderbilt Health, including coworkers with transplant infections, all contribute to exemplary outcomes and patient experiences.

Patients are also cared for under the umbrella of the Vanderbilt Lung Research Institute and bring together specialists in the diagnosis and treatment of lung medicine, chest surgery, and allergy lung diseases. VLI's mission is to “relieve suffering, give hope to people with chronic lung disease, promote knowledge and train the next generation of respiratory and thoracic surgery leaders,” said Jao De Andrade (MD), Chief Medical Officer of VLI.

“We plan to further strengthen VUMC as a multiphysical referral center for lung transplantation in the future. Support (ECMO),” said Hoetzenecker, VLI Surgical Director.