This review proposes an update of the state of the art and the ongoing clinical trials of ex vivo lung
perfusion for lung transplantation in patients. Ex vivo lung
perfusion techniques (EVLP) can be used to evaluate a lung graft outside of the body. The goal of EVLP is to study the functional status of lung grafts that were first rejected for transplantation because they did not match all criteria for a conventional transplantation. After an EVLP evaluation, some of these lungs may be requalified for a possible transplantation in patients. This article proposes an overview of the developments of EVLP techniques. During EVLP, the
perfusion and ventilation of the isolated lung preparation are very progressive in order to avoid oedema due to ischaemia-reperfusion injuries. Lung evaluation is mainly based on gasometric (PaO2/FiO2) and rheological criteria (low pulmonary arterial resistance). Several series of patients transplanted with EVLP evaluated lungs have been recently published with promising ...