What causes lung problems after a transplant?
Bronchiolitis obliterans (BO) and bronchiolitis obliterans organizing pneumonia (BOOP) are the most common noninfectious lung problems occurring in allogeneic transplant patients. Currently, BO is classified by the National Institutes of Health as a form of graft-vs.-host disease (GVHD) in the lung. Patients are generally at risk for BO if they have GVHD at other sites, are older, had poor lung function before transplant, and had respiratory viral infections. BOOP is seen in association with GVHD, but can occur without active GVHD. Currently, the cause of BOOP is unknown. However, we believe this is also an immune mediated problem that results in inflammation in the lungs. Infectious lung problems generally occur in patients taking immunosuppressive therapy for GVHD. For further information, please refer to: http://pulmonaryreviews.com/sep05/LFStemCell.html http://www.chestjournal.org/cgi/reprint/128/1/153.pdf http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=1849949 http://blo
