DOCTORS believe a pioneering transplant technique that cleans and reconditions donor lungs could save the lives of many patients.

A UK-wide study has been welcomed by patients' groups who claim it will bring hope to many with chronic lung disorders.

Only one in five potential donor lungs in the UK is used in lung transplants. The rest are turned down because they are judged to be in too poor a condition to safely transplant, the team of doctors said.

Almost one-third of those currently waiting for a lung transplant at any one time will never be matched with a donor organ, and many will die before suitable organs are found, the doctors said.

The new technique, called ex-vivo lung perfusion or EVLP, involves cleaning and aerating the donor lungs after they are removed from the donor.

It is being piloted in a small-scale study and has already been shown to work in eight patients. Philippa Bradbury, 21, from Mirfield, near West Yorkshire, was given lungs reconditioned using the technique.

Ms Bradbury, who was diagnosed with cystic fibrosis at 15 months old, was put on the lung transplant waiting list and had four calls in five months for a transplant, but each time the donor lungs were unusable.

She said: "Before the transplant, I was in and out of hospital, my quality of life had really gone down. Unlike my friends of similar ages, I wasn't able to enjoy the spontaneity of going out and enjoying myself.

"I became too tired and too out of breath to do anything. After the transplant I was only in hospital for 11 days, because the reconditioned lungs were perfect."

The study is coordinated by the DEVELOP-UK team from Newcastle University and Newcastle upon Tyne NHS Foundation Trust.