ABSTRACT
Purpose: Lung transplant may be a viable treatment option for select patients with non-recoverable COVID-19-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and COVID-19-associated pulmonary fibrosis. This study aims to characterize the utilization and outcomes of lung transplant among patients with COVID-19- associated ARDS and pulmonary fibrosis. Method(s): We analyzed the Organ Procurement Transplant Network database to characterize the prevalence and characteristics of patients with COVID-19-associated ARDS and pulmonary fibrosis who were added to the waiting list and/or received a lung transplant between March 13, 2020 and July 31, 2021. Result(s): We found that 207 lung candidate registrations were added to the waiting list and 182 lung transplants were conducted for patients with COVID-19-associated ARDS or pulmonary fibrosis. The majority of lung candidates and lung transplant recipients with COVID-19-associated diagnoses were male, had private insurance, were disproportionately Hispanic and had a higher lung allocation scores (LAS) compared to patients with non-COVID-19 diagnoses. There was no significant difference in 30-day post-transplant survival among recipients with COVID-19- associated diagnoses compared to non-COVID-19 diagnoses. Conclusion(s): Future research on post-transplant outcomes among lung transplant recipients with COVID-19-associated diagnoses is warranted. Further study of outcomes may assist in refining the appropriate LAS waitlist mortality and posttransplant survival scoring for these patients. (Figure Presented).