Lung transplantation recipients with NAFLD

Commentary

Advanced hepatic fibrosis and cirrhosis are absolute contraindications to lung transplantation. In a retrospective analysis of 150 transplanted patients, A. J. Trindade et al. (Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, and Vanderbilt University Medical Center, USA) aimed to determine if mild-moderate NAFLD contributes to increased adverse outcomes post-lung transplantation.

Median index hospital-free days for patients with NAFLD were non-inferior to those without. Regarding secondary outcomes, both index hospitalisation and 1-year outcomes were non-inferior between patients with NAFLD and those with normal liver architecture. This study demonstrates that mild-moderate severity NAFLD may not be a contraindication to lung transplantation.