Updated Cohort for Calculation of the Lung Allocation Score (LAS)

At a glance

What is current policy and why change it?

OPTN lung allocation policy for candidates 12 years and older uses the Lung Allocation Score (LAS) as a factor that impacts priority in organ offers. The data used for the score has not been updated in over 10 years. Additionally, some factors used to calculate LAS do not help predict waitlist or post-transplant survival and should be removed from the calculation.

Updated Cohort for Calculation of the Lung Allocation Score

Dr. Erika Lease, Chair of the OPTN Lung Transplantation Committee, reviews the Updated Cohort for Calculation of the Lung Allocation Score policy proposal.

Terms you need to know

Lung Allocation Score (LAS): In the OPTN lung allocation system, every lung transplant candidate age 12 and older receives a lung allocation score. The LAS is used with blood type and the distance between the candidate and the donor hospital to determine priority for receiving a lung transplant. The score is made up of factors that help determine a candidate’s waitlist urgency and post-transplant survival.
Waitlist Urgency:A candidate’s risk of death if they do not receive a transplant.
Post-Transplant Survival: Likelihood of recipient to survive for one year after receiving their organ.

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What’s the proposal?

Update the patient population data used to determine the LAS to include candidates and recipients from March 1, 2015 to March 31, 2018
Remove factors that no longer help predict waitlist or post-transplant survival

What’s the anticipated impact of this change?

What it’s expected to do
- Update the data to reflect more recent patient populations
- Provide up-to-date LAS data to inform the Lung Transplantation Committee’s project to develop a new allocation system for lungs
- Change some candidates’ LAS to better reflect their need for transplant
What it won’t do
- Will not change data collection elements