Doctors from the KIMS Hospital, Hyderabad, performed India’s first-ever “breathing lung transplant’. The patient was suffering from end-stage interstitial lung disease and had been on 10 litres of oxygen support and waiting for the transplant since August 2021.

“Breathing lung transplant’ works on the idea in which the lungs are run through a device that cools the organ while it breathes, nourishes it with a substrate enriched solution that has antibiotics that removes small traces of infection. Dr Sandeep Attawar, the program director of the Lung Transplant program, KIMS Hospital, Hyderabad said that breathing lung procedure could help in removing the adverse effects of cold ischemia time and improve lung function. This resulted in 30% more donor lungs being utilized and benefits the patients waiting for a lung transplant.