ORIGINAL ARTICLE   Free access

Minerva Respiratory Medicine 2021 December;60(4):131-5

DOI: 10.23736/S2784-8477.21.01985-9

Copyright © 2021 EDIZIONI MINERVA MEDICA

language: English

Analysis of survival in lung transplantation: simple diagnostic tests in a new “SELeCT” Score used as prognostic tool. Results from a single center cohort study

Filippo PATRUCCO ¹ ✉, Carlo ALBERA ^{1, 2}, Elisa CLIVATI ¹, Massimo BOFFINI ³, Mauro RINALDI ³, Cristina COSTA ⁴, Rossana CAVALLO ⁴, Paolo SOLIDORO ^{1, 2}

¹ Unit of Respiratory Diseases, Cardiovascular and Thoracic Department, Città della Salute e della Scienza, University of Turin, Turin, Italy; ² Department of Medical Sciences, University of Turin, Turin, Italy; ³ Unit of Cardiac Surgery, Cardiovascular and Thoracic Department, Città della Salute e della Scienza, University of Turin, Turin, Italy; ⁴ Division of Virology, Department of Public Health and Pediatrics, Città della Salute e della Scienza, University of Turin, Turin, Italy

BACKGROUND: There are few validated scores evaluating outcomes of lung transplanted patients based on donor or recipient characteristic before or at the time of transplantation.
METHODS: In our study we evaluated a new, and easy to use, 5-item score on survival of patients who underwent lung transplantation. It was called SELeCT Score and was based on clinical, laboratoristic and radiological findings recorded at each observation.
RESULTS: We found higher scores in case of unscheduled observations and an inverse correlation with overall survival rate, even excluding patients who died within 60 days. We identified a threshold of 2 points as significant to predict patients’ survival. Fungal and bacterial infections show scores higher than acute rejections and CMV and other viral infections.
CONCLUSIONS: SELeCT Score could represent a useful prognostic tool in guiding clinical choices, demonstrating that more compromised patients (routinely evaluated with clinic, laboratory test and radiological images) had a worse outcome, and that it could be important at least as much as the identification of the etiology.

KEY WORDS: Lung transplantation; Pulmonary medicine; Survival