Lung transplantation is the most viable option for many pulmonary diseases in appropriate candidates when medical therapy has failed. This series of manuscripts in this issue was planned prior to the pandemic. Donors remain rate-limiting and the field has been rapidly evolving with innovative approaches resulting in improved outcomes for recipients receiving grafts. The number of lung transplants for patients with COVID-related lung failure is increasing since the first one being performed in 2020. Since the planning of this issue we have been burdened with the COVID-19 pandemic and lung failure has become first and foremost in our lives. When one contemplates to potential magnitude of lung failure upon us, it is quite concerning. At the time this was written, over 220 million people worldwide and 40 million in the United States alone have been afflicted with COVID-19. Approximately 10–15% of these patients will have severe illness.
Lung transplantation: a comprehensive journey
The new allocation era and policy
Current trends in candidate selection, contraindications, and indications for lung transplantation
Advanced considerations in organ donors
Donation after circulatory death donors in lung transplantation
Anesthetic considerations in lung transplantation: past, present and future
Bilateral sequential lung transplantation: technical aspects
Intraoperative support during lung transplantation
Lung retransplantation in the modern era
Living-donor lobar lung transplantation
Ex vivo lung perfusion
Primary graft dysfunction: what we know
Review: immunosuppression for the lung transplant patient
Management of chronic rejection after lung transplantation
Bacterial infections in lung transplantation
Viral infections in lung transplantation
Fungal infections in lung transplantation
Lung transplantation for pulmonary hypertension
Airway complications in lung transplantation
Approaching the sensitized lung patient: risk assessment for donor acceptance
The role of palliative care in lung transplantation
Critical care considerations in the post-operative period for the lung transplant patient