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Kidney transplantation from Covid positive donors safe: Study

Rajeev Choudhury

The kidney, which is the most transplanted organ worldwide always remains in high demand with those requiring transplantation outnumbering the donors by many times across the globe.

Data from the Global Observatory on Donation and Transplantation (GODT) reveal that in 2020 80,926 kidney transplantations took place worldwide down from 102,403 in 2019, a fall of over 20%, primarily due to disruptions caused by the pandemic.

Despite there being no evidence showing that Covid-19 can be transmitted through urine or blood, organs from deceased donors who tested positive for the disease were thought to be ineligible for transplantation till February 2021, when transplantation restarted.

Now researchers from the Cleveland Clinic say that transplantation of kidneys from Covid-19 positive donors is safe.

A team of doctors led by Dr Yi-Chia Lin started transplantation in the Ohio based organisation in February 2021, after Cleveland Clinic lifted the moratorium on receiving organs from COVID-positive deceased donors.

Between February and October 2021, the team performed 55 kidney transplantations 36 of which were from deceased Covid-19 positive patients and found that the outcomes are comparable to kidneys from regular donors.

The findings, which were reported in The Journal of Urology's May 15, 2022, issue show that despite 38.2% of the donors dying due to Covid related complications, the overall survival rate post-transplantation was 98.2%.

While no patient tested positive for Covid-19 after surgery, at a mean follow up duration of 3.5 months, all kidney allografts are functioning, with a mean serum creatinine of 1.6 ± 0.7 mg/dl, the researchers reported in their findings.

However, the transplanted kidney of one patient had to be removed at 1.5 months post-transplant due to Pseudomonas aeruginosa vascular infection, they further reported.

Transplantation of kidneys from Covid-19 positive donors is safe; outcomes are comparable to kidneys from regular donors, they concluded.


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