Kidney transplantation during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Arnaud del Bello (1, 2) , Marion Olivier (1, 2) , Federico Sallusto (1) , Audrey Delas (3) , Laure Esposito (1, 2) , Nicolas Doumerc (1) , Nassim Kamar (1, 2)

1 CHU Toulouse - Centre Hospitalier Universitaire de Toulouse
2 Infinity - Institut Toulousain des Maladies Infectieuses et Inflammatoires
3 IUCT Oncopole - UMR 1037 - Institut Universitaire du Cancer de Toulouse - Oncopole

Recently, Akalin et al.1 reported a 28% mortality among kidney‐transplant patients infected with Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2). Two of the 10 patients who died had been transplanted within the previous 5 weeks. During the coronavirus disease (COVID)‐19 outbreak, kidney transplant programs were suspended in several countries2. Although the pandemic is still ongoing, the stop of lockdown has prompted several transplant centers to restart kidney transplantation programs. It is recommended to consider that donors and recipients are screened for SARS‐CoV‐2 before transplantation by means of nuclear acid tests with or without chest CT scans.

Mots clés: COVID-19; living-donor kidney transplantation; nosocomial transmission; organ transplantation; safety

Domaines: Maladies infectieuses

Arnaud del Bello, Marion Olivier, Federico Sallusto, Audrey Delas, Laure Esposito, et al.. Kidney transplantation during the COVID‐19 pandemic: Potential long‐term consequences of an early post‐transplant infection. Transplant Infectious Disease, 2021, 23 (4), pp.e13446. ⟨10.1111/tid.13446⟩. ⟨hal-03377255⟩