A patient with advanced lung cancer and interstitial lung disease received a double-lung transplant through a clinical trial at Northwestern Medicine.
RT’s Three Key Takeaways:
- DREAM Clinical Trial: Northwestern Medicine is utilizing a specialized double-lung transplant protocol for patients with advanced lung cancer who have exhausted other treatment options.
- Surgical Technique: The procedure involves placing the patient on full heart and lung bypass to remove both lungs and lymph nodes simultaneously, followed by a cleaning of the chest cavity to prevent cancer cell recurrence.
- Expanded Screening Needs: Researchers suggest expanding lung cancer screening criteria to include younger individuals and never-smokers, as current guidelines may miss a significant portion of the population.
Northwestern Medicine in Chicago successfully treated a former NASA software developer diagnosed with terminal lung cancer by performing a double-lung transplant.
Jodi Graf, a 61-year-old robotic software developer at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), traveled to Northwestern Medicine in Chicago to participate in a clinical trial known as DREAM (Double Lung Replacement and Multidisciplinary Care). Northwestern Medicine is currently the only healthcare system in the US offering this approach for patients with advanced lung cancers who have failed all other treatment options, the organization says.
“This innovative technique involves putting the patient on full heart and lung bypass, delicately taking both cancer-ridden lungs out at the same time along with the lymph nodes, washing the airways and the chest cavity to clear the cancer, and then putting new lungs in,” said Ankit Bharat, MD, chief of thoracic surgery and executive director of the Northwestern Medicine Canning Thoracic Institute, in a news release. “These patients can have billions of cancer cells in the lungs, so we must be extremely meticulous to not let a single cell spill into the patient’s chest cavity or blood stream.”
Graf had lived with respiratory challenges for nearly 30 years. In 2005, she was diagnosed with interstitial lung disease (ILD), a condition that causes lung scarring and impairs breathing. Her health declined significantly until she required up to 10 liters of supplemental oxygen.
In December 2023, during a transplant evaluation in Houston, doctors discovered a mass in her lungs. Despite having no history of smoking, Graf was diagnosed with advanced lung cancer. Because most transplant centers do not perform procedures on patients with active cancer, Graf was initially ineligible for a transplant in Houston and underwent radiation while her lung function declined to 30%.
Graf was listed for a double-lung transplant at Northwestern Memorial Hospital in November 2025. A match was found within 24 hours, and the surgery took place on November 27, 2025.
Following the procedure, Graf was able to walk on a treadmill without supplemental oxygen for the first time in years. Pulmonologists at the Canning Thoracic Institute report that Graf is currently cancer free and her ILD has been resolved.
“Jodi is doing wonderfully and our hope is that she will be able to live with these new lungs for many years to come,” said Catherine Myers, MD, pulmonologist at the Canning Thoracic Institute.
The case highlights an increasing trend of lung cancer diagnoses among women and individuals who have never smoked. According to Dr Bharat, while smoking remains a primary risk factor, there is an “explosion” of cases in patients with limited or no smoking exposure.
A study conducted by Northwestern Medicine researchers on nearly 1,000 consecutive lung cancer patients found that only 35% would have qualified for screening under current US Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF) criteria. The study noted that the remaining two-thirds of patients who did not meet the criteria were disproportionately women and never-smokers.
The researchers recommend expanding universal age-based screening to adults aged 40 to 85. They estimate this change could detect 94% of lung cancers and prevent more than 26,000 deaths annually. In response to these findings, the healthcare system has launched the Lung Health Center at the Canning Thoracic Institute to improve early detection of lung, heart, and bone conditions.
