Expanding the donor pool for lung transplantation using HCV-positive donors

Despite the increasing numbers of heart and lung transplants within the United States and worldwide and an increased awareness regarding organ donation, there remains a global shortage of donor organs. As a result, the waitlist mortality rate for lung transplantation is approximately 15.3% for all diagnoses in the United States despite introduction of the lung allocation score (1,2), and is higher among those patients listed in areas of low local lung availability (3).