ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVES: The clinical features and treatment approaches, outcomes, and mortality predictors of COVID-19 in solid-organ transplant recipients have not been well defined. This study investigated the clinical features of COVID-19 infection in solid-organ transplant recipients at our center in Turkey. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Our study included 23 solidorgan transplant recipients and 336 nontransplant individuals (143 previously healthy and 193 patients with at least 1 comorbidity) who were hospitalized due to COVID-19 disease in our hospital between March 2020 and January 2021. Demographic, clinical, and laboratory data of patients were compared. We used SPSS version 20.0 for statistical analysis. All groups were compared using chi-square and Mann-Whitney U tests. P < .05 was considered statistically significant. RESULTS: Mean age of solid-organ transplant recipients was 49.8 ± 13.7 years (78.3% men, 21.7% women). Among the 23 recipients, 17 (73.9%) were kidney and 6 (26.1%) were liver transplant recipients. Among nontransplant individuals, 88.7% (n = 298) had mild/moderate disease and 11.3% (n = 38) had severe disease. Among transplant recipients, 78.3% (n = 18) had mild/moderate disease and 21.7% (n = 5) had severe disease (P = .224). Transplant recipients had greater requirements for nasal oxygen (P = .005) and noninvasive mechanical ventilation (P = .003) and had longer length of intensive care unit stay (P = .030) than nontransplant individuals. No difference was found between the 2 groups in terms of mortality (P = .439). However, a subgroup analysis showed increased mortality in transplant recipients versus previously healthy patients with COVID-19 (P < .05). Secondary infections were major causes of mortality in transplant recipients. CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 infection resulted in higher mortality in solid-organ transplant recipients versus that shown in healthy patients. More attention on secondary infections is needed in transplant recipients to reduce mortality.
ABSTRACT
The whole world has been facing the pandemic of SARS-CoV-2 infection and every day we still find out new knowledge regarding the disease. COVID-19 which is the name given to the clinical syndrome related to this infection has been shown to own a wide diversity of clinical presentations which challenges the healthcare workers and makes difficult the diagnosis and management of patients. Pulmonary embolism is also an entity that accompanies this type of infection and sometimes it is difficult to differentiate between the two. Here we present a patient who was admitted inward with typical lesions on chest tomography for COVID-19, but that turned out to be a submassive pulmonary embolism case without any infection. This case is remarkable because it shows that patients suspected for COVID-19 should be carefully examined and that pulmonary embolism can per se mimick the parenchymal lesions caused by viral infections.