Reasons Why Most Asbestosis Patients Can Not Get Lung Transplant

Reasons Why Most Asbestosis Patients Can Not Get Lung Transplant Option

Asbestosis is a chronic lung disease caused by irreversible scarring of the lungs as a result of inhalation of asbestos fibers. In the latter stages of this disease virtually all of the lung tissue is affected by extensive scarring and the patient can hardly breathe properly even at rest. At this stage lung transplant is sometimes considered as a treatment option there are so many obstacles that prevent most patients from getting this type of treatment. Some of these reasons are:

1- Asbestosis has to be extremely advanced before a lung transplant can even be considered. Treating asbestosis with a lung transplant can't even be considered until the patient has a prognosis of only one to two years left to live. By this time, the scarring of the lungs is extensive and breathing is extremely difficult for the patient, causing serious impairment of function. Because it takes a very long time before asbestosis gets to this stage, most of the patients are usually too old to undergo such an extensive surgery. The age threshold for this type of surgery is usually around 55 years and by the time asbestosis has reached this advanced stage most of the patients would have been older than this.

2-Also, there are very few donors available at any given time for a lung transplant. The difficulty of finding an available donor (an individual with healthy lungs who is brain dead but sustained on life support until harvesting of the lungs) is further complicated by the extremely complex matching process. The donor and recipient must be within the same age bracket and their blood groups must. The donor's lung x-ray must be clear of any defects and the recipient must be sick enough to be on the waiting list while at the same time must be healthy enough to undergo the stress of such an extensive surgery.

3- It is often difficult for patients to get approval from their insurance carriers, who don't usually believe that lung transplant gives a good result in the treatment of asbestos. The operation is a very expensive one and most patients can not afford to pay for it by themselves

If you have asbestosis and a lung transplant is a viable option for you, make sure you get on the donor waiting list immediately. You should also contact an asbestos mesothelioma attorney as the extensive surgery involved in transplanting a lung is expensive and you may be able to claim damages against the company that originally exposed you to the asbestos that caused your condition.

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