Lung Transplant Cost in Germany

The cost of lung transplant in Germany typically ranges from $140,000 to $280,000 USD, depending on the hospital, city, and type of procedure.

A lung transplant replaces one or both diseased lungs with healthy lungs from a deceased donor. It is used for end-stage lung disease in carefully selected patients. In Germany, the total depends on:

• Single or double lung: the type of transplant.
• Intensive care: usually 1 to 3 days or more.
• Hospital stay: usually 14 to 21 days.
• Lifelong follow-up: and anti-rejection medicines.

Transplant costs depend on the package, and donor assessment, long-term medicines and readmissions may be billed separately. Ask exactly what an estimate includes.

NHS Blood and Transplant explains that a lung transplant can be the most effective treatment for lung failure in selected fit patients, but strong anti-rejection medicines are needed and the risk of death is highest in the first months. About 80 in 100 are alive at one year and 52 to 59 in 100 at five years.

Eurotransplant's allocation manual (2012 version) limits listings of patients living outside Eurotransplant countries for deceased-donor liver, heart and lung transplants to 5% of each centre's deceased-donor transplants in the previous year.

NHS Blood and Transplant describes 1 to 3 days in intensive care, although 3 to 5 days or more is not unusual, and a hospital stay of 14 to 21 days with early mobilisation.

Clinic visits are twice weekly at first, then every 3 to 6 months after the first year.

International patients are usually treated in Germany as self-paying patients: the hospital reviews the medical reports, sends a cost estimate and asks for an advance payment before admission, then settles the final bill after discharge.

Inpatient hospital care in Germany is billed under the German DRG system, which depends on the main diagnosis, other diagnoses and the procedures carried out, so the final amount is known only after the stay.

German missions ask applicants for a medical treatment visa for a letter from the treating hospital, a cost estimate and proof of an advance payment of at least 50% of the treatment cost.