Heart and lung transplantation for terminal cystic fibrosis. A 4 1/2-year experience. From among 112 patients with cystic fibrosis who were assessed for heart-lung transplantation, 83 were accepted. Twenty-six died while awaiting heart-lung transplantation and 32 had the operation. The management and the outcome of these 32 patients is reported. Survival, infection, and rejection rates among these patients were compared with those of 61 patients without cystic fibrosis who underwent heart-lung transplantation between 1984 and 1990. The cumulative survival rate was 72.29% +/- 94.91% at 1 year and 55.59% +/- 7.50% at 3 years. The mortality rate was slightly higher in the group with cystic fibrosis during the first year after the operation but it was lower at 3 years. The difference, however, could have been due to chance alone (p = 0.308). The same was true for the prevalence of rejection (up to 6 months: chi 2 = 1.8141, p = 0.17), and infection (up to 6 months: chi 2 = 2.20, p = 0.14), between the two groups. It is concluded that cystic fibrosis does not constitute an additional risk in terms of survival and morbidity after heart-lung transplantation. 