Single-lung and double-lung transplantation: technique and tips

After the first successful single-lung transplantation in 1983, the Toronto team described the first successful double-lung transplantation in 1988 (1,2). The lungs were implanted “en-bloc” through a median sternotomy, three anastomoses were performed: one tracheal, one on the pulmonary artery (PA) and one on the left atrium. This procedure was proved to be technically demanding and likely to lead to impaired airway anastomosis healing (3)