Organ Transplantation from SARS-CoV-2 Positive Donors Safe

According to a study published online on January 24 in Transplant Infectious Disease, organ transplantation from SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid test (NAT), positive donors appear to be safe for short-term outcomes.

The Swedish Medical Center in Seattle’s Jason D. Goldman, M.D., and colleagues evaluated organ transplantation and recipient outcomes between NAT-positive and NAT-negative donors for the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Between May 27, 2021, and January 31, 2022, 617 NAT-positive donors from all OPTN regions and 53 of 57 organ procurement organizations had their organs recovered.

The researchers discovered that NAT-positive donors were younger and had higher kidney and liver organ quality ratings. Organ usage was decreased in NAT-positive donors compared to NAT-negative donors. In total, 1,241 organs from 514 NAT-positive donors were transplanted, as opposed to 21,946 organs from 8,853 NAT-negative donors.

The medical urgency was less for liver and heart transplant recipients who tested positive for NAT. The median wait time for liver recipients was greater for NAT-positive donors. The match run sequence number for the final acceptor was greater for NAT-positive donors for all organ types. Results for hospital duration of stay, 30-day mortality, and 30-day graft loss were comparable across all organ types. Throughout this study period, no SARS-CoV-2 donor-derived transmission incidents were documented.

“These data suggest that the careful use of SARS-CoV-2 NAT+ donors can balance the risk for waitlist mortality in the setting of scarcity of available deceased donor organs,” the authors write.

Several authors disclosed financial ties to the pharmaceutical industry.

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