Breaking the barrier: Successful kidney transplant in two patients from a SARS-CoV-2-Infected deceased donor in India: Case report and short review

Abstract

There is the acute shortage of organs in India due to very low deceased organ donation rate. The COVID-19 pandemic had a huge impact on organ transplant programs, leading to slowing down of these programs worldwide. At present, with the SARS-CoV-2 infection becoming endemic and frequently presenting as asymptomatic or mild infection, deceased donors are likely to be incidentally positive for this infection. Most guidelines worldwide advocate rejecting the organs from such donors. Utilization of organs from these donors can improve the donor pool. Data suggest that carefully selected nonlung organs from such donors, with asymptomatic or mild SARS-CoV-2 infection, dying of other causes, are not associated with adverse outcomes. We present the cases of two end-stage kidney disease patients on hemodialysis, who were transplanted with kidneys from a deceased donor, infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus. Over 3 months of follow-up, the patients did not show any sign of COVID-19 infection or COVID-related kidney dysfunction and are now maintaining normal kidney function. This was the first incident of a successful kidney transplant from donor infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus, in India.