Lung Transplant Program
Leaders in Lung Transplantation
Our lung transplant program is at the forefront of groundbreaking research and innovative treatment, achieving excellent patient outcomes in lung transplant surgery. Our experienced team uses sophisticated technology to provide the most advanced care available for people with severe lung disease.
300 Pasteur Drive
Stanford, CA 94305
Phone: 650-723-3633
What We Offer You for Lung Transplantation
- Specialized expertise in lung transplants, lung rescue, and pre-transplant care for people with advanced lung diseases, including COPD, cystic fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension, and interstitial lung disease.
Go to Conditions Treated - Advanced treatment options including minimally invasive approaches to lung transplant, multiorgan transplant, and lung rescue treatment. Go to Treatments
- Team-based approach to treatment planning, bringing together transplant specialists in pulmonology, heart and chest surgery, nursing, and other fields to tailor care to your needs. Go to Your Care Team
- Clinical research for organ transport devices, lung rescue therapies, and transplant techniques, offering eligible patients access to promising treatments before they’re widely available. Go to Research Trials
- Comprehensive support services to help you and your family focus on health and healing. Go to Support Services
- Ease of access to care, with patient coordinators to guide you through the transplant process and help with lodging, travel, and other needs during your stay.
Go to Accessible Care
Conditions Treated
For many lung diseases, you may be taking medications or using supplemental oxygen to improve your breathing and manage other symptoms. If the condition worsens and these treatments no longer help, you may need a lung transplant.
Your lung transplant team includes experienced pulmonologists (lung doctors), as well as specialists with expertise in transplant surgery, thoracic (chest) surgery, infectious diseases, and other fields of medicine. Together, we carefully evaluate you and recommend treatment options—including lung, heart-lung, and other multiorgan transplants—tailored to your needs.
Chronic lung diseases and other conditions that may require a lung transplant include:
- Alpha-1 antitrypsin deficiency (an inherited condition that increases your risk of diseases in your lungs, liver, and other organs)
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) including emphysema and chronic bronchitis
- Congenital heart diseases that affect the lungs, such as Eisenmenger syndrome
- Cystic fibrosis (CF)
- Interstitial lung disease (ILD), including pulmonary fibrosis
- Lymphangioleiomyomatosis (LAM)
- Pulmonary hypertension (high blood pressure in lung arteries)
- Sarcoidosis (severe inflammation with lumps of immune cells that form in the lungs)
- Severe bronchiectasis (damaged, thickened lung airways that cause mucus buildup)
Stanford Health Care achieves excellent lung transplant outcomes, with one-year survival rates better than the national average.
Related Programs
Treatments
Lung Transplant Process
Stanford Health Care has long been at the forefront of lung transplant research and care, providing hope for people with end-stage lung disease. Our pulmonologists, transplant surgeons, and other team members help people with complex conditions who have been told they can’t be treated. You receive the most advanced treatments available today, from expert specialists with years of experience.
Program Highlights
Stanford Health Care’s contributions to lung disease treatment continue to advance the standard of care for people who need lung transplants. Highlights include:
- The world’s first successful heart-lung transplant in 1981
- One of the most active lung transplant programs in the U.S., performing about 50 to 60 transplantations per year
- One of the largest heart-lung transplant programs in the Bay Area
- National recognition for exceptional lung care, including our cystic fibrosis, pulmonary vascular disease, and interstitial lung disease programs in our Center for Advanced Lung Disease
- Only Bay Area Excellence in Extracorporeal Life Support (ELSO) designated Gold Level Center of Excellence
- Ability to perform high-risk and complex transplants for people who have been turned away from other transplant centers
A double-lung and kidney transplant at Stanford saves the life of a man critically ill with COVID-19
Pre-Transplant
Before a lung transplant, we do a comprehensive evaluation, including tests to understand your overall health. This process helps us identify and address any issues that could arise after lung transplant surgery.
Based on your specific health, you may need one or more tests, which include:
- Blood tests to check for signs of infections or other conditions
- Blood and tissue typing to help with donor matching and to prevent organ rejection
- Imaging, such as a chest CT scan or chest X-ray
- Dental checkup to take care of any problems that could lead to infection and organ rejection after transplant
- Heart tests, such as:
- Cardiac catheterization
- Echocardiogram (echo)
- Electrocardiogram (EKG or ECG)
- Psychosocial evaluation to identify and address issues that affect transplantation and recovery, such as family support, financial resources, and stress
- Pulmonary function tests
- Age-appropriate health screening
Tests also help us monitor your health while you’re waiting for a donor organ. Your time on the waitlist depends on many factors, which your doctor will explain.
Depending on your overall health and symptoms, you may need pre-transplant care to stay as healthy as possible while you’re on the organ waitlist. In addition to medications and supplemental oxygen therapy, another pre-transplant treatment option we offer is lung rescue therapy.
Lung rescue therapy
Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) provides lifesaving treatment for people with respiratory failure due to advanced lung disease or other causes.
ECMO is a machine that temporarily takes over your lung function to remove carbon dioxide and replace oxygen in your blood. Our pulmonologists and their teams use ECMO as a bridge to:
- Lung transplant
- Heart failure treatment, such as a heart transplant or left ventricular assist device (LVAD)
- Treatment for lung diseases such as pulmonary embolism or severe lung infection
Transplant
When a donor lung or lungs become available for you, you must come to our hospital within a few hours. Our team guides you through the process for lung transplant surgery, keeping you informed at every step.
Lung transplant procedures
Lung transplants provide healthy lungs from a deceased donor to replace damaged lungs in people with severe lung disease and lung failure.
At Stanford Health Care, our skilled transplant surgeons perform several types of procedures for lung transplant:
- Single-lung transplant
- Double-lung transplant
- Multiorgan transplants, including heart-lung, lung-kidney, and lung-liver transplants
Ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP)
Our lung transplant team uses ex vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) to transport donor lungs in a warm, living, breathing state. The EVLP device pumps blood through the lungs’ blood vessels and oxygen through the lobes to maintain the donor lungs’ condition.
With EVLP, we can expand the pool of donor lungs, providing access to transplants for more people on the waiting list. The technology has important benefits over traditional cold storage for donor lungs because it allows for:
- Transporting organs greater distances: EVLP keeps donor lungs functional for up to 20 hours as opposed to six hours with cold storage.
- Improving the condition of donor lungs: The device circulates blood and oxygen through the lungs, which helps repair tissue injury that can occur with the donor’s death.
Post-Transplant
After lung transplant surgery, you stay in our ICU for about three days with a total hospital stay of two to three weeks. Your recovery time at home depends on your overall health and previous lung condition.
Your first follow-up appointment happens about three weeks after your discharge from the hospital. You'll need lifelong follow-up care with our lung transplant team to monitor you for signs of infection or organ rejection and to see how well your lungs are working. Your follow-up appointments may include:
- Pulmonary function testing
- Lung imaging
- Lab tests
- Management of medications to prevent organ rejection
Clinical Trials
Clinical trials are research studies that evaluate a new medical approach, device, drug, or other treatment. As a Stanford Health Care patient, you may be eligible to participate in open clinical trials to evaluate new breakthroughs.
Open trials refer to studies currently recruiting participants or that may recruit participants in the near future. Closed trials are not currently enrolling, but similar studies may open in the future.
Quality and Outcomes
Excellence in Lung Transplant Quality and Outcomes
The Stanford Lung Transplant Program is an active and successful lung transplant center. Our transplant program outperforms the national average for survival one year after lung transplantation (according to the Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients).
We are a Designated Extracorporeal Life Support Organization Gold Level Center of Excellence for high levels of innovation, performance, quality, and satisfaction using extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).
We have been able to maintain excellent outcomes, while accepting complex and high-risk patients who were turned away from other centers.
A woman receives a double-lung transplant, becoming Stanford's 1,000th lung and heart-lung transplant.
Save a life.
Learn more about organ donation.
Your Lung Transplantation Team
Our multidisciplinary lung transplant team specializes in exceptional care, education, and support for people with advanced lung disease. The extended care team includes specially trained nurses, transplant coordinators, and other providers who support and guide you through the transplant process. We update your referring physician about your status during treatment at Stanford Health Care and transition your care back to them afterward.
Your Doctors
Pulmonologists
Pulmonologists specialize in managing lung function and diagnosing and treating lung diseases. Pulmonologists help manage your care before and after the transplantation surgery.
View All {0} Pulmonologists »Lung Transplant Surgeons
Transplant surgeons are doctors who specialize in organ transplantation. They oversee all team members and perform the transplant surgery. The transplant surgeon helps manage your care before and after the transplant procedure, including follow-up.
View All {0} Lung Transplant Surgeons »Infectious Disease Specialists
Infectious disease specialists are doctors who diagnose, treat, and help prevent diseases caused by bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. People who receive organ transplants must take medications that suppress the immune system (immunosuppressants) to help prevent organ rejection. Immunosuppressants increase your risk of developing infections, and an infectious disease specialist helps minimize that risk.
View All {0} Infectious Disease Doctors »Psychiatrists
Psychiatrists are medical doctors who specialize in behavioral health and the psychological effects of disease. They can detect psychological factors that contribute to a condition and also help you cope with symptoms through medication, mindfulness techniques, and stress reduction exercises.
View All {0} Psychiatrists »Advanced Practice Providers
Advanced practice providers include nurse practitioners and physician assistants. They work with transplant surgeons and pulmonologists to manage your care before and after the transplant.
View All 6 Advanced Practice Providers »
Extended Care Team
Joell Garner, BSN, RN
Lisa Levin, RN, MS
Bailey Mack, RN
Ellen Arce, MSN, RN
Claudette Arguello, RN
Leslie Gamble, RN
Claire Reichle, BSN, RN
Christine Doherty, MSW
Hannah Gordon, MSW
Rosanna Tran, MSW
Natalie Chan, RD
Marion Seabaugh, MPH, RD
Erik Henricksen, PharmD, BCPS
Roy Lee, PharmD
Lisa Nham
Support Services
We offer a vast array of support services to help you feel your best throughout your care, from diagnosis through treatment and recovery.
Our lung transplant team provides you with comprehensive services at our Stanford Health Care location.
Outreach Locations
7710 North Fresno Street,
Suite 102
Fresno, CA 93720
For Referring Physicians
PHYSICIAN HELPLINE
Fax: 650-320-9443
Monday – Friday, 8 a.m. – 5 p.m.
Stanford Health Care provides comprehensive services to refer and track patients, as well as the latest information and news for physicians and office staff. For help with all referral needs and questions, visit Referring Physicians.
You may also submit a web referral or complete a referral form and fax it to 650-320-9443 or e-mail the Referral Center at ReferralCenter@stanfordhealthcare.org
