Pulmonary homograft (PH):
PH implanted in the University Hospital of Nantes were provided by the European Homograft Bank (EHB) in Brussel (Belgium) [7]. PH were harvested from donors heart or explanted heart during heart transplantation. Morphological and quality assessment of the PH was systematically performed by EHB after harvesting. PH were incubated with 3 antibiotics (lincomycin, vancomycin andpolymixin B) during 20-48 hours, and cryopreserved at -150°C in a 10% dimethysulfoxid solution. The maximum period of cryopreservation of the PH was 5 years. All the cryopreserved PH was decellularized during the study period. The quality criterions of the EHB respected the European recommendations 2006/17/EC and 2006/86/EC.