Impact of donor lung colonized bacteria detected by next-generation sequencing on early post-transplant outcomes in lung transplant recipients

Background The effect of donor lung colonized bacteria on the prognosis of lung transplantation is not clear. We used the technique of next-generation sequencing (NGS) to detect the colonized bacteria from the lower respiratory tract and analyzed whether the colonized bacteria of donor lung could affect the outcomes of lung transplantation. Methods Seventeen patients who underwent lung transplantation from March 2018 to June 2018 at Wuxi People’s Hospital affiliated to Nanjing Medical University were included in this study. Twelve cases of donor lung were obtained, and 17 lung transplants were performed, including 12 single lung transplantation and 5 bilateral lung transplantation. The colonized bacteria in the lower lobe tissue of donor lung were detected by NGS, and the bacteria culture method was used to detect the bacteria in the airway secretion before and after the operation. The information of length of extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support, mechanical ventilation time, length of intensive care unit (ICU) stay, duration of fever and length of hospital stay were collected for prognostic analysis. Results Compared with bacterial culture methods, the positive rate by using NGS in the lungs were higher (52.9% vs 41.2%). Among the patients who were transplanted with donor lungs with detected bacteria by NGS before surgery, only one patient (1/9) developed the same bacteria after lung transplantation. Based on results of NGS and bacterial culture, there was no association between the colonized bacteria in donor lungs and the patients’ outcomes of immediate posttransplant period. Conclusion NGS showed more sensitive than bacterial culture for detection of bacteria. The colonized bacteria in different parts of the lung are inconsistent. There is no association between the colonized bacteria in donor lungs and short-term outcome of lung transplantation patients.