A heart–lung transplant is a procedure carried out to replace both failing heart and lungs in a single operation.
Once suitable donor organs are present, the surgeon makes an incision starting above and finishing below the sternum, cutting all the way to the bone.
Internal paddles can be used to apply a small electric shock to the heart to restore proper rhythm.
At any one time, there are about 250 people registered for heart–lung transplantation at the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) in the US, of which around forty will die before a suitable donor is found.
The British National Health Service states that the survival rate is now around 85%, one year after the transplant was performed.
[4] The first successful heart–lung transplant was performed at Stanford in the United States, by Bruce Reitz on Mary Gohlke in 1981.
[6] Australia's first heart-lung transplant was conducted by Victor Chang at St Vincent's Hospital, Sydney in 1986.