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Thomas Egan

Thomas M. Egan, M.D. M.Sc.

University of North Carolina
3040 Burnett-Womack Builiding, CB #7065
Chapel Hill, NC  27599 7065
United States
1 919 966-3381
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Role: 
Surgeon - Cardiothoracic

Background

University of Toronto (MD 1976)
York Finch Hospital Rotating Internship (1976-1977)
Medical Officer & Flight Surgeon, Canadian Armed Forces Base Chatham NB (1977-1980)
University of Toronto General Surgery Residency (1980-1986)
University of Toronto (MSc 1984)
University of Toronto Residency in Cardiovascular and Thoracic Surgery (1986-1988)
Washington University Thoracic Transplant Fellow (1988-1989)
Faculty, UNC Chapel Hill (1989-present)

Other Interests

Due to an ambulatory disability, I no longer perform surgery
Lung Transplantation
Thoracic Oncology - Stereotactic Radiosurgery
Ischemic Lung Injury
Lung Transplantation from non-heart-beating donors
Organ Allocation for Transplant
Quantitative Lung Ultrasound
Photography

Research

The lung doesn't die when you do. Lung cells do not rely on blood perfusion for cellular respiration. So lung cells live for hours after circulatory arrest and deah of an individual. Our lab has shown that lungs could be transplanted with good function if recovered one hour after death from non-ventilated deceased donors. Duration of tolerable ischemia could be enhanced by ventilation of a deceased animal with oxygen. In subsequest studies we showed that oxygen ventilation of a dead animal was associated with delayed lung parenchymal cell death, ultrasructural integrity, and maintenance of total adenine nucleotide levels. We used ex-vivo lung perfusion (EVLP) to evaluate lungs recovered from uncontrolled Donation after Circulatory Death Donors (uDCDDs), formerly known as Maastricht Category 1 & 2 non-heart-beating donors. I have IRB and FDA approval to offer suitable lungs for transplant. Funding was withdrawn because of failure to meet ambitious milestones. We have translational rat lung transplant and rat lung EVLP circuits, and cell culture models of lung IRI. We have developed a mouse lung transplant model, and have performed EVLP and transplant of swine lungs in a brain-dead donor model. I have collaborated with an acoustic scientist at NC State University on the new field of quantitative lung ultrasound.