A new lung treatment looks set to substantially increase the lung donor pool in Ireland.

The first transplant involving the treatment was successfully carried out in the past few months.

20-year-old Cystic Fibrosis patient Leigh Bagnall was the first person in Ireland to benefit from an Ex Vivo Lung Perfusion Transplant.

That means a donor's lungs were treated before transplantation, improving the quality of the organ.

Leigh Bagnall (left) and surgeon Karen Redmond (right) | Image via @SeanDefoe on Twitter

It allows lungs that would not previously have been useable to be donated.

Ms Bagnall says it has been life-changing.

Lung transplant surgeon at the Mater Hospital, Karen Redmond, says it will increase the pool of lungs available.