Bronchospasm after cardiopulmonary bypass in a heart-lung transplant recipient

The development of severe bronchospasm, which delays separation from cardiopulmonary bypass (CPB), has been previously reported in patients undergoing coronary artery bypass grafting. These patients responded to conventional treatment for bronchospasm and subsequently did well. We report a case of severe bronchospasm in the denervated lung of a heart-lung transplant recipient, which not only made separation from CPB extremely difficult, but remained a serious clinical problem for the remainder of the patient's hospitalization.