Lung transplants extend lives of sickest cancer patients better than standard treatment, study finds

By the Editorial Team · Thursday, July 9, 2026

Jodi Graf, diagnosed with advanced lung cancer and previously deemed ineligible for transplantation, received a lung transplant at Northwestern Medicine last November under new eligibility criteria. A recent study shows that lung transplants can significantly improve survival and quality of life for select patients with terminal lung cancer, challenging longstanding treatment practices.

For the first time in nearly three decades, Jodi Graf can breathe freely again. Diagnosed in 1997 with a progressive lung disease, Graf’s condition worsened until December 2023, when doctors in Houston discovered a cancerous mass in her lungs during a lung transplant evaluation. Due to her advanced illness, she was ineligible for chemotherapy or surgical removal of the tumor. Most transplant centers require patients to be cancer-free for at least five years before undergoing lung transplantation, but Northwestern Medicine in Chicago offered an exception.

Graf, 61, received a lung transplant at Northwestern last November and is among patients featured in a new study published Wednesday in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The research reveals that lung transplantation significantly improves survival rates for patients with advanced lung cancer compared to standard cancer treatments.

Historically, transplanting lungs into individuals with advanced lung cancer has been considered too hazardous due to concerns that cancer cells might spread to the new lungs. However, the study challenges this view. Led by Dr. Ankit Bharat, Northwestern’s chief of thoracic surgery and a co-author of the study, researchers analyzed 404 adults with end-stage lung disease, including 98 patients diagnosed with Stage 4 lung cancer. Among these, 17 patients underwent lung transplantation while 89 received conventional therapies such as chemotherapy and immunotherapy between September 2021 and June 2025.

Eligibility for transplantation required that cancer be confined to the lungs, substantial lung damage had occurred, and all other treatment options had been exhausted. According to Bharat, these patients faced both terminal cancer and severe respiratory failure, some requiring mechanical ventilation.

The study found that all lung transplant recipients were alive one year after the procedure, whereas less than half of those treated medically survived to the same point. The transplant not only prolonged life but also substantially improved quality of life. Bharat recounts examples of patients on the brink of withdrawing care who regained hope and stability following transplantation.

The concept for the study emerged from insights gained during the early COVID-19 pandemic, when the team observed critical lung damage in severely ill patients requiring lung replacement. This experience informed the hypothesis that lung transplantation might similarly benefit cancer patients with localized pulmonary disease.

For Graf, the transplant has meant more than extended survival—it has restored her ability to plan for the future. Having previously relied on oxygen tanks and faced grave uncertainty, she and her husband are now making retirement plans, including hiking trips and international travel.

“I went from thinking I probably wouldn’t have a future, but now I am able to think about my future,” she said. “I’m really enjoying being able to breathe.”

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