It is a hospital based retrospective study; the study was carried out in a lungtransplant centre located in Chennai, India. A total of eight cases of single lung transplantation were done during the period of one year. Six patients were selected based on the inclusion criteria and the use of bronchoscopy during the immediate post-operative period followed by bronchoscopy during the early hours of everyday for the first week and the success in reduction of immediate post-operative infection and observations has been analysed.
Results:
In analysis of all the six cases, the positive signs of early morning bronchoscopy done were identified, mucus plugs which contribute to significant hypoxemia and morbidity were not observed in any of the patients. New patch was also not observed in any of these patients. Culture positivity from the donorlungcarrying over to the recipient was observed in just one of these patients.
Conclusions:
This protocol based frequent bronchoscopy prevents ‘Surprise’ patches in the lungs. Performance of Broncho Alveolar Lavage on a regular basis avoided the possibility of infections developing by early screening and aided as a tool for identification of acute neo lung rejection.