Step by step, lung transplants are more successful

SOMERSET, N.J. (WPVI) -- The number of lung transplants is rising every year, and though it's a challenging transplant, survival averages are up 20%.

A New Jersey woman reluctant to take the leap is now making the most of her second chance.

"I love photography!" Elizabeth Gorden says with a big smile.

And she loves taking pictures in New York City, but she'd rather forget what she saw in 2001 from her job near the World Trade Center.

"There was a noticeable smell in the air, even inside the building," she recalls.

Within a month, Elizabeth got walking pneumonia. Then a cough.

"But the cough would come and go," she remembers.

It disappeared for years, only to return after she retired and developed into interstitial lung disease, needing round-the-clock oxygen.

When she eventually accepted the need for a lung transplant, her research led to Temple Health and pulmonologist Dr. Rachel Criner.

Dr. Criner says the transplants are challenging because the lungs are always exposed to the outside world.

"So you're going to breathe in bacteria. You're going to breathe in fumes, so there is a high risk for infection and rejection," she explains.

She says that's where experience matters.

"The more the surgeons see, the more the pulmonologists see, our nurses here, you just get better," Dr. Criner says. "You can handle complications better because you know."

Dr. Criner believes Temple's emphasis on early rehab and nutrition is a big step forward.

"So after surgery, getting patients up, out of bed, mobilizing them, having them walk the halls a couple times a day," she says. "We have people who, they're called mobility aides, and their only job is to walk transplant patients."

There's also extensive follow-up with patients and their families, supporting everyone through this life-changing process.

And at Temple, there's no automatic age cut-off for older patients, so more second chances like Elizabeth's.

"I was never afraid or nervous. I just knew this was the right thing to do," she says.

"We say 'age is just a number.' You could be otherwise healthy except for your lungs," Dr. Criner says.

Not only is Temple a leader in the overall numbers of lung transplants, it does more single-lung transplants than other centers around the nation.

"There is some data to suggest that patients who have a single lung transplant at an older age will have the same prognosis as someone with a bilateral lung transplant," she says.

While there's no blanket agreement on that in the transplant community, Temple teams say that's what they are seeing and have some theories on it.

"The surgery itself for a single lung transplant is, the time is shorter. There's one incision instead of two, so recovery is shorter, just faster," adding, "If you're in the hospital less time, likely less risk for infection, less risk of complications, you're rehabbing faster."

Dr. Criner plans to present her data at an American Thoracic Society meeting.

Elizabeth's trip to her transplant did have some drama. Her husband couldn't drive I-95 in Northeast Philadelphia. It was closed after a tanker fire and collapse. He got a traffic ticket hurrying through the detour, but says it was worth it.