Salvaging the dehisced lung transplant bronchial anastomosis with homograft aorta

This is a case of 50-year-old male who underwent left single lung transplantation for pulmonary fibrosis. He sustained a bronchial dehiscence with a pulmonary artery-bronchial fistula which was primarily repaired. One week later, there was complete bronchial dehiscence followed by a massive hemoptysis. At operation, following resection of necrotic donor bronchus there was a sizeable gap between donor and recipient bronchus, which was bridged with a cryopreserved aortic homograft. The homograft patch provided a satisfactory repair without malacia. The patient required retransplantation six months later for reasons unassociated with the repair. Homograft aorta proved useful material for salvaging the dehisced lung transplant bronchial anastomosis.