Donor Alcohol Use May Fuel Lung Transplant Rejections.

Alcohol abuse on the part of organ donors increases the chance of a patient rejecting a lung transplant, according to a recent study conducted at the Emory University School of Medicine. Regular consumption of alcohol can cause airway injury and scarring after a lung transplant, creating questions about the screening of lung donors, Associated Content reported.

"There is considerable evidence that alcohol abuse increases the risk for lung disease and lung injury," said David Guidot, MD, professor of medicine at Emory and director of the University's Alcohol and Lung Biology Center, in a press release. "So it is a natural progression to look at lung transplants." Study results were published in the Dec. 1 issue of the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

Researchers used an animal model to conduct their research, but caution that their goal is to determine the affects of alcohol and ways to address those effects rather than limiting the pool of lung donors.

"There are reasons to be concerned that chronic alcohol abuse by donors could increase the risk of complications in the transplanted lung," Dr. Guidot said. "Our goal is not to exclude donors, which would be the worst case scenario. Rather, it is to understand the biology, so that we can know how to intervene and make outcomes better." Link:

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/460915/donor_alcohol_use_may_cause_lung_transplant.html. (12/05/07)