Kidney Transplantation from Covid-19 Deceased Donors

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Transplant volumes decreased significantly during the first months of global pandemic of COVID-19, followed by a shift in the standard of care of transplant medicine. It has become widely accepted to rigorously screen and test donors and recipients for COVID-19 before proceeding with transplant. Discarded kidneys due to positive COVID-19 testing in potential donors is a new challenge for transplant centers. The emerging vaccines and lines of therapy have given us tools that could be utilized to re-balance the shift in practice and maximize organ utilization. Method(s) In this we present two cases of kidney transplantation from a COVID-19 positive deceased donor. The first recipient was a 40-year-old female who has been vaccinated with two doses of mRNA-1273 vaccine five months before transplant. The second patient was a 41-year-old male without a prior COVID-19 vaccine, he had a natural infection with COVID-19 about 10 months prior to transplant, and antibody was positive for anti-nucleocapsid IgG at the time of transplantation. Both recipients had negative SARS-CoV-2 nasopharyngeal swab PCRs prior to transplantation, and both received induction with anti-thymocyte globulin 5mg/ kg. Both recipients received their transplanted kidneys from the same donor, who tested positive by RT-PCR for COVID-19 from a nasopharyngeal swab three days prior to procurement (Roche Cobas Liat PCR, single cycle threshold). On the following day, the donor's bronchial washing was negative. At the day of procure662 Kidney Deceased Donor Selection ment, repeated PCR from a nasopharyngeal swab was negative, and COVID-19 antibody was positive for anti-nucleocapsid IgG (AbbottTM ARCHITECTTM). The donor cause of death was head trauma with a terminal serum creatinine of 0.3mg /dL Chest imaging did not demonstrate COVID-19 pneumonitis. Casirivimab 600mg and imdevimab 600mg were administered 24 hours after the last dose of anti-thymocyte globulin as post-exposure prophylaxis. Result(s) Both recipients had an appropriate renal allograft function. Casirivimab 600mg and imdevimab 600mg were administered 24 hours after the last dose of anti-thymocyte globulin. Both recipients demonstrated no signs or symptoms of COVID-19 infection during their hospitalization and were instructed to maintain 14 days of COVID-19 exposure precautions post-discharge. At 12 weeks from transplant, both patients had no symptoms of COVID-19 infection. SARS-CoV-2 RNA has been detected in several organs including kidney, but there was no proof of infective virus in extrapulmonary organs. Conclusion(s) These two cases may broaden the scope of accepting organs from COVID-19 positive deceased donors and the use of casirivimab and imdevimab for immediate post-transplant surgery prophylaxis. While we are not sure if the monoclonal antibodies did offer any benefits here, we think that this report may throw the light on its potential use in post-transplant surgery prophylaxis. Further studies are warranted to examine the benefits of such practice.