The Patients who need new lungs are better off getting donated organs from smokers than none at all, even though they probably won’t live as long as those who get a lung transplant from a nonsmoker, a new study says.
Researchers say patients will survive longer if they are willing to accept lungs from anyone, including smokers. In Britain, that’s a key issue, for about 40 percent of donated lungs come from people who have previously smoked.
Yet in recent years, several cases of British patients dying after getting lungs from smokers have sparked calls for the policy to be overhauled.
Doctors behind the new study said changing the U.K. transplant system would be wrong and lead to a spike in the number of people dying while waiting for donated lungs.
Researchers say patients will survive longer if they are willing to accept lungs from anyone, including smokers. In Britain, that’s a key issue, for about 40 percent of donated lungs come from people who have previously smoked.
Yet in recent years, several cases of British patients dying after getting lungs from smokers have sparked calls for the policy to be overhauled.
Doctors behind the new study said changing the U.K. transplant system would be wrong and lead to a spike in the number of people dying while waiting for donated lungs.
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