Figure 4.

Adult lung transplants Kaplan-Meier survival by era from January 1988 to June 2011, modified with permission (2). Survival was calculated using the Kaplan-Meier method, which incorporates information from all transplants for whom any follow-up has been provided. Since many patients are still alive and some patients have been lost to follow-up, the survival rates are estimates rather than exact rates because the time of death is not known for all patients. The median survival is the estimated time point at which 50% of all of the recipients have died. The conditional median survival is the estimated time point at which 50% of the recipients who survive to at least 1 year have died. Because the decline in survival is greatest during the first year following transplantation, the conditional survival provides a more realistic expectation of survival time for recipients who survive the early post-transplant period. Survival rates were compared using the log-rank test statistic. Adjustments for multiple comparisons were done using Scheffe’s method.