Changes to increase kids' access to lung transplants

NEW YORK, N.Y. (WPVI) -- Two years ago, the Murnaghan family of Newtown Square, Pa., made national headlines challenging the rules for kids' lung transplants.

They fought, and won, to enable their daughter Sarah to be considered for adults lungs.

Now more changes are in the works.

The Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients and the Organ Procurement and Transplantation network are considering four alternatives to the current system.

The most promising ones would offer donor lungs to kids in wider geographic areas, before offering them to adults.

Researchers say organs would go to the sickest kids first, without hurting adults on the waiting list.

Dr. Maryam Valapour, of the Cleveland Clinic, led the research.

"We were not able to detect any decline in transplant rates for adults and we were not able to detect increased death rates on the wait list for adults," said Valapour.

The concept of broader geographic sharing is being explored for other organs, too.