ABSTRACT
I. History The University of Toronto Lung Transplant team described their experience with the first successful long-term surviving lung transplant in 1983 (1). Subsequently, en bloc double-lung transplant was devised for patients with cystic fibrosis and emphysema where a tracheal anastomosis was performed, but this technically complex procedure was plagued with problems of airway anastomotic healing (2). This led to the development of bilateral sequential lung transplant where two separate airway anastomoses were performed close to the hilum to improve collateral airway blood supply on the donor side (3). Dr. Cooper provides an excellent account of the early days of evolution of the technique of lung transplantation (4).
