Lung transplantation for late-onset non-infectious chronic pulmonary complications of allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplant

BACKGROUND: Late onset non-infectious pulmonary complications (LONIPCs) following allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (allo-HSCT) confer a significant mortality risk. Lung transplantation (LTx) has the potential to provide survival benefit but the impact of prior allo-HSCT on post-LTx outcomes is not well studied. METHODS: This retrospective, single-centre cohort study assessed the post-LTx outcomes of adults with LONIPCs of allo-HSCT. Outcomes of LTx for LONIPCs were compared to propensity-score matched LTx controls (n = 38, non-HSCT) and recipients of re-LTx (n = 70) for chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD). RESULTS: Nineteen patients underwent DLTx for LONIPCs of allo-HSCT between 2003 and 2019. Post-LTx survival was 50% at 5-years. Survival to 1-year post-LTx was similar to matched controls (p = 0.473). Survival, conditional on 1-year survival, was lower in the allo-HSCT cohort (p = 0.034). An increased risk of death due to infection was identified in the allo-HSCT cohort compared to matched controls (p = 0.003). Compared to re-LTx recipients, the allo-HSCT cohort had superior survival to 1-year post-LTx (p = 0.034) but conditional 1-year survival was similar (p = 0.145). CONCLUSION: This study identifies an increased risk of post-LTx mortality in recipients with previous allo-HSCT, associated with infection. It supports the hypothesis that allo-HSCT LTx recipients are relatively more immunosuppressed than patients undergoing LTx for other indications. Optimisation of post-LTx immunosuppressive and antimicrobial strategies to account for this finding should be considered. SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12931-021-01699-8.