Radiologic correlation with early physiologic function of the transplanted canine lung

There is no single reliable method for assessment of the transplanted lung. Multiple modes of assessment are therefore used. In a canine model designed to assess lung preservation, the reliability of information gained from chest radiographs performed in the early post-transplant period was examined. The function of 20 left lung allografts, stored for 12 hours after pulmonary artery flush preservation was studied. Radiographs graded according to disease severity were compared with physiologic function of the transplanted lung assessed immediately and at three days post-transplantation. This protocol enables study of acute preservation-related lung injury and the delayed manifestations of ischemic and reperfusion injury after a three day period of recovery, while avoiding confounding rejection and infectious episodes. The chest radiography did not reliably reflect function of the flush-preserved transplanted lung. Thus, relying only on this modality may lead to erroneous conclusions. In this study, the progression of radiographic changes associated with the “reimplantation response” differed from previous descriptions, possibly reflecting differences in operative technique or improved lung preservation.