In Australia, lung transplants are performed within the public healthcare system (Medicare), meaning patients generally don't pay the hospital costs directly, but the actual cost to the system is very high, estimated at over AU$160,000 for the one-off procedure plus significant annual costs, while illicit black market prices can reach hundreds of thousands of dollars. The focus for patients is managing associated expenses like travel, accommodation, and medications not fully covered by public schemes, with some rural patients using subsidised lodging.
Coverage details
covers necessary tests, labs, and exams, and generally also covers: Services for heart, lung, kidney, pancreas, intestine, and liver transplants.
Waiting periods for a lung transplant in Australia can be up to 2 years and depend on the blood and tissue types of the recipients and donors. The waiting times are different in each state depending on the population of the state and the number of people that are on the waiting list.
On average, 83 patients out of 100 are alive one year after a lung transplant. On average, 55 out of 100 patients are alive five years after a lung transplant. What is the longest a transplanted lung has lasted? Some patients have a transplanted lung for more than 20 years.
Heart Transplant: The Costliest Procedure
Heart transplants top the list as the most expensive medical procedure in 2024. The complexity of the surgery, the need for donor matching, and the lifelong post-transplant care contribute to the high cost.
Because immune cells of the central nervous system (CNS) contribute to the maintenance of neurogenesis and spatial learning abilities in adulthood, the brain has been hypothesized to be an immunologically privileged (unrejectable) organ.
So, experiencing pain after a lung transplant is possible, especially when the anesthesia wears off. But the patient doesn't experience any degree of pain during the surgery.
Eat and drink the right things
Avoid too much sugar, saturated fats and salt. A low sugar diet is particularly important for managing diabetes. A diet low in saturated fat will help to keep your cholesterol levels controlled. Most people are able to drink alcohol in moderation after a lung transplant.
You must: Be physiologically 60 years of age or less for a double lung transplant and 65 years of age or less for a single lung transplant. This means that your physical condition must meet the typical condition of someone age 60 or younger (or 65 or younger for single lung transplantation).
A lung transplant is a major operation that lasts between 6-8 hours. Donor lungs are transplanted in the same place in your chest as your old lungs. Plastic tubes will be inserted into your neck and arms for administering fluids and medicines. You will also be given a catheter tube to remove urine from you bladder.
A national leader in transplant excellence
Austin Health is a major provider of transplants nationally with a long history of excellence. We deliver a broad range of transplants, including liver, intestinal, kidney, multi-visceral, and allogeneic haematopoietic stem cell transplants, and transplant research.
Chronic rejection has widely varied effects on different organs. At 5 years post-transplant, 80% of lung transplants, 60% of heart transplants and 50% of kidney transplants are affected, while liver transplants are only affected 10% of the time.
Common reasons why a lung transplant may not be the right treatment for you include: You are too ill or frail to cope with the surgery and aftercare. You have recently had cancer, a serious infection, a heart attack or a stroke. You may struggle taking the immunosuppressant medicines after a lung transplant.
Technically, you can't donate an entire lung. Some transplant centers do "living donor" lung transplants, where the lower lobes of a lung (your right lung has three lobes, and the left lung has two) from two donors are transplanted.
As your new lung(s) starts to function for you, you will be weaned off oxygen; however, occasionally, some patients will require oxygen.
After returning home, you want to resume "normal living." If you want to go to a movie or a social occasion and feel up to it, DO IT! If you'd like have friends visit you at home, that's OK too! Try as much as possible to return to your normal routine.
Lung volume reduction surgery (reduction pneumoplasty) is an operation for certain people with severe emphysema that has been shown to provide significant improvement in lung function, and offers patients with advanced pulmonary disease an alternative to lung transplantation.
International society consensus statements, health insurance policies, and individual transplant programs almost uniformly consider active cigarette smoking an absolute contraindication to lung transplant.
Lung transplant involves the removal of the damaged lung and replacement with a new healthy organ. To do the surgery, the doctor makes a cut in your side about 6 inches below your armpit. This cut is called an incision. Then, the doctor removes part of a rib so he or she can take out your lung a put in the new one.
You will spend at least the first 1-3 days in the intensive care unit to allow the extensive monitoring that is required. Sometimes your time in intensive care may be longer. It's not unusual for patients to be there for 3-5 days or longer. Most lung transplants start working within a few hours of the operation.
After surgery to your chest you shouldn't drive until the effects of the anaesthetic and painkillers have worn off. Your wounds must have healed well. At first the seat belt may press on your wound and make it sore.
You'll be surprised as to how much you could lose and still live. You can still have a fairly normal life without one of your lungs, a kidney, your spleen, appendix, gall bladder, adenoids, tonsils, plus some of your lymph nodes, the fibula bones from each leg and six of your ribs.
How long will I have to wait to receive a transplant?
Appendix. The appendix was once believed to be a vestige of a redundant organ that in ancestral species had digestive functions, much as it still does in extant species in which intestinal flora hydrolyze cellulose and similar indigestible plant materials.