Mortality and Development of Cancer in Lung Transplant Recipients with Advanced Age

Purpose The lung transplant recipient population has become older over the last 10 years. The impact of an aging population on post-operative outcomes, post-transplant survival, and frequency of cancer is not well described. Methods We conducted a single center retrospective cohort study of transplant patients between January 2010 and March 2019. We collected baseline characteristics, early post-operative outcomes, post-transplant survival, and time to malignancy. We divided our cohort by age Results 603 patients underwent transplant from 2010- 2019, of whom 470 were less than 65 years of age. Patients ≥ 65 had lower LAS at transplant (47.6 vs 50.9) and decreased post-transplant survival (HR 1.45, 95%CI: 1.06-1.97, p=0.019). One-year survival was similar, 92.4% vs 89.3% for age ≥ 65 and Conclusion Lung transplantation is a viable treatment for patients over 65 with similar early post-transplantation outcomes and a modest reduction in five-year survival. There was an increased risk of skin cancer in adults over 65, and may be an increased risk of all cancers in adults over 65.