Lung Transplantation in Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV): Expanding the Horizons

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INTRODUCTION: One million people have HIV in the United States; approximately 56,000 new cases of HIV are diagnosed every year. Patients with HIV infection have a higher incidence of pulmonary complications including pulmonary hypertension and pulmonary fibrosis when compared to non-HIV infected patients. Lung transplantation is a relative contraindication in HIV infected patients with end stage lung disease, mainly due to insufficient knowledge about the interactions between immunosuppressive medications and highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART). However, transplantation of other solid organs such as kidney, liver, and heart, have been performed successfully in HIV patients 1. We present the first case of an HIV-positive patient with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) who underwent successful double lung transplant (DLTx) in USA