Vall d’Hebron Hospital performed the first lung transplant in Catalonia and the second in Spain

In 1983, the Lung Transplant Group at the University of Toronto (Canada) carried out the first lung transplant in the world. This was a major medical milestone, and leading hospitals around the world began working to perform lung transplants, as until then, many patients with lung diseases had no other treatment options.
 
In Catalonia, the Pneumology Department at Vall d’Hebron Hospital set to work immediately and with great determination. The team that took the first steps in Vall d’Hebron Hospital’s Lung Transplant Programme included Dr Ferran Morell and Dr Antonio Román (who later became medical director during the Covid-19 pandemic), both pulmonologists, Dr Julio Astudillo, a thoracic surgeon, and Dr Carles Margarit, who contributed his experience in liver transplantation. After several training visits to specialised centres abroad, they launched an experimental programme using animals to practise surgical techniques, anaesthesia and other aspects related to transplantation.
 
On 1 August 1990, just a few months after the first lung transplant in Spain was performed at Gregorio Marañón Hospital in Madrid, the first patient was transplanted at Vall d’Hebron and in Catalonia: a 19-year-old woman with severe pulmonary fibrosis who required respiratory support. She survived for three and a half years with a good quality of life.
 
That first transplant, and a few others that followed, were, in fact, carried out at the Adriano Clinic, where the Pneumology Department had been temporarily relocated due to major renovation works taking place at the hospital.
 
Vall d’Hebron is currently the only hospital in Catalonia that performs lung transplants in both children and adults. It has carried out more than 1,500 lung transplants, making it one of the most renowned programmes in Europe. In 35 years, Vall d’Hebron has become a leader in transplants both in Catalonia and across Spain.

L’aire de la Irene 

Irene underwent a lung transplant at the end of 2006 at the age of 58. At that time, the respiratory failure she had been living with for years had worsened to the point that she needed a wheelchair and had to remain connected to a respiratory support device throughout the day.

“I had been experiencing respiratory problems for some time, but at first, they did not affect my daily life. Gradually, however, they started to. As the deterioration was very slow, I adapted, adjusting my activities to my abilities. I walked shorter and shorter distances and avoided climbing stairs until eventually, even the simple act of breathing became an effort,” Irene explains.

“I didn’t leave the house for nearly a year because I needed to be connected to a machine in order to breathe. If I went out, I had to use a wheelchair and carry a backpack with an oxygen cylinder that allowed me to spend a few hours outside the house. But even that gradually worsened because, as I needed more oxygen, the portable cylinder lasted less time, and my independence became increasingly limited,” she recalls.

In December 2006, she underwent a lung transplant at Vall d’Hebron. “When they told me there was a compatible donor, I was afraid, of course, but I really had very little to lose because I was already living with so many limitations.”

“What I remember most about that experience is waking up and realising that I could breathe. Taking a breath and filling my lungs was a wonderful feeling. Later, once I had recovered, being able to do those small everyday things again, which had once felt like real achievements, made me very happy.”