ABSTRACT
I. Introduction The first human lung transplant was performed by Hardy at the University of Mississippi in 1963 after years of laboratory work using canine models (1). Success with lung transplant eluded thoracic surgeons until the introduction of cyclosporine A allowed for clinical success with heart-lung transplant at Stanford in 1981 (2), and isolated lung transplant at Toronto in 1983 (3). Early organ transplant efforts were complicated by a lack of consensus regarding brain death. Eventually, the medical community accepted the definitions proposed by an ad hoc committee from Harvard medical school (4) and they were adopted across the country. In 1984, the National Organ Transplant Act (NOTA) created the Organ Procurement and Tissue Network (OPTN) in the United States. The United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS) was awarded the contract to run the OPTN in 1986 and has maintained it ever since.
