A double-lung transplantation was carried out successfully from a donor who had previously been infected with the coronavirus, according to a case report from Belgium.
The transplantation was completed without viral transmission to the recipient, and recovery after 90 days was excellent, according to researchers.
Though only a single case, the success of the transplantation may offer some reassurance given that a relatively large proportion of future organ donors are likely to have contracted Covid-19 at some point during the pandemic.
“Since SARS-CoV-2 resides primarily in the respiratory tract, lung transplantation has the highest concern in terms of donor-derived viral transmission and impaired graft quality,” wrote authors led by Dr Laurens Ceulemans, of University Hospitals Leuven, in The Lancet: Respiratory Medicine.
The donor was a 72-year-old woman who developed COVID-19-like symptoms in April. Her symptoms, which included fever, cough, weakness, and muscle pain, lasted for two weeks; she was not tested for COVID-19 at the time due to low testing capacity in Belgium.
During the period of her symptoms, however, her husband was admitted to the hospital and died from confirmed COVID-19. Three months later the woman was admitted to the hospital with intracranial bleeding, and serology testing showed positive SARS-CoV-2 antibodies.