Inhaled medicine helps after lung transplant

Reported by Susan Aldridge, PhD, medical journalist

According to a new study, inhaled cyclosporine improves survival after a lung transplant.
Cyclosporine is generally used to prevent rejection of a new organ following a transplant. Now reseasrchers at the University of Pittsburgh show the value of an inhaled version of the drug in promoting survival following a lung transplant.

In the trial, carried out from 1998 to 2001, those on inhaled cyclosporine had a two-thirds reduction in chronic rejection of the new lung. The risk of death was five times greater among those on the placebo. The study covered 56 patients receiving either a single or a double lung transplant. They took inhaled cyclosporine or the placebo three times a week, at home, and were followed up for at least two years.

The researchers point out that conventional cyclosporine, which is given orally, cannot get into the small air sacs of the lungs which is where rejection actually takes place. Of the 26 patients on cyclosporine, 23 were still alive two years later. Of the 30 in the placebo group, only 16 were alive at that point.

Source
New England Journal of Medicine 12th January 2006

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