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NYU Langone Performs First HIV‑Positive‑to‑HIV‑Positive Lung Transplant

Done under an FDA‑sanctioned HOPE research protocol, the March 21 case creates a controlled route to broaden organ options for people living with HIV.

Human lungs
Image
Bertrand Nelson weaing a red shirt and baseball cap and holding a small dog.

Overview

  • The NYU Langone team performed a combined double lung and liver transplant using organs from a deceased HIV‑positive donor on March 21, 2026, marking the first documented lung transplant between people with HIV.
  • Recipient Bertrand Nelson, 56, experienced an intraoperative cardiac arrest, was resuscitated, spent 67 days in hospital, and has been discharged and is recovering off supplemental oxygen.
  • The operation proceeded under a research protocol co‑designed by Sapna Mehta and sanctioned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and it was carried out at one of the few centers approved to perform HOPE lung transplants.
  • Clinicians say the case could expand the pool of usable organs for people with HIV, but heart and lung transplants from HIV‑positive donors remain limited to approved research programs pending more clinical data and monitoring of virologic and immune outcomes.
  • The procedure builds on the 2013 HOPE Act that permits HIV‑to‑HIV donation and follows prior experience transplanting kidneys and livers from HIV‑positive donors, with broader use depending on more trials, center capacity, and long‑term safety tracking.