Transplantation pathology

Abstract

As solid organ and hematopoietic cell transplantation have evolved from experimental procedures to accepted approaches to therapy for many disorders, experience in recognizing transplantation-associated complications has also grown. The lung is a common site of involvement by many of these complications, in some cases representing the primary organ affected and in others serving as one site of many affected by a systemic disease process. The roster of potential complications to which transplant patients are subject varies depending on the type of transplantation performed, the nature of the underlying disorder that made transplantation necessary, other concurrent disease processes that may exist, the nature and intensity of immunosuppressive therapies and other treatments that may also be selected, and a wide variety of immunologic, physical, and metabolic factors that are becoming increasingly recognized with time. © 2008 Springer New York.