The European respiratory journal : official journal of the European Society for Clinical Respiratory Physiology
-
Multicenter Study
Aerosol cyclosporin therapy in lung transplant recipients with bronchiolitis obliterans.
The majority of patients who develop bronchiolitis obliterans, after lung transplantation, die within 2-3 yrs after onset since treatment with conventional immunosuppression is typically ineffective. A case/control study was conducted in lung transplant recipients with biopsy-documented bronchiolitis obliterans to determine whether aerosol cyclosporin use contributed to increased survival. The cases comprised 39 transplant recipients who received open-label aerosol cyclosporin treatment in addition to conventional immunosuppression. ⋯ Cox proportional-hazards analysis revealed a survival advantage for aerosol cyclosporin cases compared to the Pittsburgh control group. A survival advantage was also seen when comparing study cases to multicentric controls. Aerosol cyclosporin, given with conventional immunosuppression to lung transplant recipients with bronchiolitis obliterans, provides a survival advantage over conventional therapy alone.