Photopheresis for Chronic Rejection of Lung Allografts

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Abstract
Extracorporeal photochemotherapy, or photopheresis, is a technique for modulating cell-mediated immunity that was first described as a successful treatment for cutaneous T-cell lymphoma.1 In 1992, Costanzo-Nordin et al. reported the success of photopheresis as an experimental therapy in eight of nine episodes of acute rejection after heart transplantation.2 Our experience is similar, with five of six episodes resolving with photopheresis (unpublished data). We describe three patients with bronchiolitis obliterans and chronic rejection after single-lung transplantation whose pulmonary function stabilized following the initiation of photopheresis.