Monday 3 February 2014
One in five lung transplant patients are given organs from 20-a-day smokers, research has revealed.
Overall, almost a half of donated lungs come from someone who had smoked, according to a major British study.
Using lung transplants from smokers is a way of boosting supply as there is a constant shortage of donor organs.
But for one in five patients, their donors had smoked a packet a day or more for at least 20 years.
Despite this, the researchers said patients' survival rate was not harmed by receiving a smoker's lung and the research should ease patients' fears about donors who had smoked.
The study showed that patients who received lungs from non-smokers actually had a slightly lower one-year survival rate. The research was carried out at Harefield Hospital in north-west London.
