Introduction: Placing a patient on the national lung transplant waiting list remains a difficult matter, and is more a question of timing than selection of the candidate according to disease-specific criteria.
Background: The listing criteria for cystic fibrosis are FEV1 less than 30% of the predicted value, hypoxaemia with a PaO2 less than 55 mm Hg and hypercapnia with a PaCO2 over 50 mm Hg. The rate of decline of FEV1, increasing antibiotic requirements and life threatening complications can all accelerate the listing procedure. For primary pulmonary hypertension the criteria are persistent dyspnoea, NYHA grade III or IVA, despite epoprostenol treatment and a 6 minute walk test of less than 250 metres. Sarcoidosis, lymphangioleiomyomatosis, histiocytosis X and connective tissue diseases are rare indications for which the listing criteria are similar to those for the more usual respiratory diseases.
Viewpoints: Further therapeutic advances, increased numbers of available organs and changes in the allocation rules will necessitate periodical updates of these selection and listing criteria.
Conclusion: The optimal time for placing lung transplantation patients who have been referred early in the course of their disease on the waiting list will be determined by clinical experience and individual patient follow-up.