LONDON , England ( CNN ) -- A leading UK hospital has defended its practice of using organs donated by smokers after the death of a soldier who received the cancerous lungs of a heavy smoker . A close up X-ray view of a cigarette smoker 's lungs . Corporal Matthew Millington , 31 , died at his home in 2008 , less than a year after receiving a transplant that was supposed to save his life at Papworth Hospital -- the UK 's largest specialist cardiothoracic hospital , in Cambridgeshire , east England . Papworth Hospital released a statement saying using donor lungs from smokers was not `` unusual . '' The statement added that the hospital had no option but to use lungs from smokers as `` the number of lung transplants carried out would have been significantly lower , '' if they did n't . Should hospitals use smokers ' lungs in transplants ? An inquest held last week heard that Millington , who served in the Queen 's Royal Lancers , was serving in Iraq in 2005 when he was diagnosed with an incurable condition that left him unable to breathe . He was told he required a transplant and in April 2007 received a double lung transplant at Papworth Hospital . Less than a year later , doctors discovered a tumor in the new lungs . Despite radiotherapy , Millington died on February 8 , 2008 , at his family home near Stoke-on-Trent , in Staffordshire . The inquest found a radiologist failed to highlight the growth of a cancerous tumor on the donor lungs . Tests found that he had received the lungs of a donor who smoked up to 50 cigarettes a day , the inquest at North Staffordshire coroner 's court heard . The hospital said in the statement : `` This is an extremely rare case . Papworth Hospital has a very strong track record of high quality outcomes and this is an extremely rare case . `` Patients who are accepted on to the transplant waiting list have no other option open to them , however , we must stress that all donor organs are screened rigorously prior to transplantation . `` Using lungs from donors who have smoked in the past is not unusual . During 2008/09 146 lung transplants were carried out in the UK . `` During the same period 84 people died on the waiting list . If we had a policy that said we did not use the lungs of those who had smoked , then the number of lung transplants carried out would have been significantly lower . '' The tumor 's growth was accelerated by the immuno-suppressive drugs Millington was taking to prevent his body rejecting the transplanted lungs , the inquest heard . North Staffordshire coroner Ian Smith recorded that Millington , had died of `` complications of transplant surgery and immuno-suppressive drug treatment . ''
Iraq veteran Matthew Millington died after transplant using cancerous lungs . The lung was donated by a man who had been diagnosed with cancer and needed to be kept alive for at least six months before he could receive the new organ. Inquest found a radiographer failed to find cancerous tumor on donor lungs .