Lung transplant can extend survival in some patients with stage 4 lung cancer, according to a study published July 8 in JAMA.
Researchers and physicians from Chicago-based Northwestern Medicine analyzed data from 404 adult patients with end-stage pulmonary disease, including 98 with stage 4 lung cancer, between September 2021 and June 2025 to assess outcomes associated with lung transplant.
Here are five things to know from the study:
- Of the 98 patients with stage 4 lung cancer, 17 received a lung transplant and 81 received medical therapy alone because of logistical, financial or geographic factors.
- After the study period, all 17 transplant patients were alive but fewer than half of similar patients who received medical therapy only were alive.
- Patients with stage 4 lung cancer who received a lung transplant had a 100% one-year posttransplant survival rate while the one-year survival rate among patients with stage 4 lung cancer who did not receive a lung transplant was 41%.
- Patients without cancer who received a lung transplant had an 88% one-year posttransplant survival rate.
- The study was conducted as part of Northwestern’s Double Lung Transplant Registry for Lung-Limited Malignancies program. Also known as the DREAM registry, the program tests whether lung transplantation can be used for patients with organ-confined, treatment-resistant lung cancer who are at risk of dying from respiratory failure.
Read the full study here.
