Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy for Lung Transplantation

Hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) will be performed with the standard HBOT protocol used at Duke for the treatment of compromised grafts and flaps. This is 2 hours of breathing >99% medical grade oxygen inside an air-pressurized chamber at atmospheric pressure of 2 once a day for 20 sessions. These sessions will be scheduled 3-5 times per week, depending on the availability of the patient and the hyperbaric medicine physician. The HBOT procedure used for this study will be identical to that used for clinical practice in the Duke University Health System Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Environmental Physiology, including the oxygen that is used in the chamber. Patients will receive treatment through the regular clinical hyperbaric service. These are routine, not special, treatment sessions and they will receive them alongside other Duke University Medical Center patients being treated for other reasons. The medical grade oxygen used is a part of the Duke University Health System Center for Hyperbaric Medicine and Environmental Physiology hyperbaric chamber system.

While the patients randomized to receive usual care will not undergo HBOT, both study groups will receive standard serial bronchoscopies for airway clearance and for the collection of bronchoalveolar lavage fluid for culture data, due to the high rate of infection in lung transplant patients. All subjects will undergo the standard surveillance bronchoscopies every 3 to 4 weeks (x3) for clearance of the exudate from the airway, as well as monitoring progression of the airway abnormalities. As participants in this study, an, endobronchial biopsy of the airway epithelium will be performed at the main carina to collect a sample of recipient epithelium as well as at the first subcarina for each donor lung. Three samples will be collected from each of the biopsy sites. These samples are small (1 to 2 mm) and are thought to have a minimal clinical risk of minor bleeding associated with the procedure. Biopsy will add roughly 3 minutes total to each procedure.

Inclusion criteria

• Post-lung transplant patient
• Extensive exudative plaques at 1 month bronchoscopy
• No sign of airway improvement, or showing worsening of plaques at follow-up bronchoscopy 2-3 weeks after 1 month bronchoscopy.

Exclusion criteria

• Use of mechanical ventilation with fraction of inspired oxygen(FiO2) greater than 40%
• Use of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation
• Use of inhaled nitric oxide
• Presence of pneumothorax
• Pregnancy
• Inability to provide informed consent