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Donor shortages have led transplant centers to extend their criteria for lung donors. Accepting lung donors ≥70 years of age has previously shown good short-term outcomes; however, no mid- and long-term outcome data on these extended criteria donors has been published to date. In this study, all patients who underwent lung transplantation between 06/2010 and 12/2019 were included in the analysis, and the outcomes were compared between patients receiving organs from donors <70 years of age and patients transplanted with lungs from donors ≥70 years of age. Among the 1,168 lung-transplanted patients, 62 patients received lungs from donors ≥70 years of age. The recipient age of those receiving older organs was significantly higher, and they were more likely to suffer from obstructive lung disease. Older donors were exposed to significantly shorter periods of mechanical ventilation prior to donation, had higher Horowitz indices, and were less likely to have smoked. The postoperative time on mechanical ventilation, time on ICU, and total hospital stay were comparable. The overall survival as well as CLAD-free survival showed no differences between both groups in the follow-up period. Utilization of lungs from donors ≥70 years of age leads to excellent mid- and long-term results that are similar to organs from younger donors when the organs from older donors are carefully preselected. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: In this retrospective study, we analyzed the presence of any association of three CD4+CD25high regulatory T‐cell subpopulations at 3 weeks after lung transplantation with the later incidence of chronic lung allograft dysfunction and graft survival. Among lung‐transplanted patients between January 2009 and April 2018, only patients with sufficient T‐cell measurements at 3 weeks after transplantation were included into the study. Putative regulatory T cells were defined as CD4+CD25high T cells, detected in peripheral blood and further analyzed for CD127low, FoxP3+, and CD152+ using fluorescence‐activated cell sorting (FACS) analysis. Associations of regulatory T cells with chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD) and graft survival were evaluated using Cox analysis. During the study period, 724 (71%) patients were included into the study. Freedom from chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD) and graft survival amounted to 66% and 68% at 5 years. At the multivariable analysis, increasing frequencies of CD127low were associated with better freedom from CLAD (hazard ratio for each 1% increase of %CD127low, HR = 0.989, 95% CI = 0.981–0.996, P = 0.003) and better graft survival (HR = 0.991, 95% CI = 0.984–0.999, P = 0.026). A higher frequency of CD127low regulatory T cells in peripheral blood early after lung transplantation estimated a protective effect against chronic lung allograft dysfunction, mortality, and re‐transplantation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]