Incidence of Coronavirus Infection in Patients Undergoing Kidney Transplant During the Pandemic Period in Uzbekistan.

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVES: The COVID-19 pandemic has hit the world in an almost unprecedented way. Patients with endstage chronic renal failure, who are on hemodialysis, with glomerulonephritis and complicated pyelonephritis and other nephrological diseases, were under constant close supervision of specialists, despite the existing difficulties for face-to-face contact between the patient and the doctor at our hospital in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, where primary detection and treatment of these patients were also actively conducted. Here, we report the features of the course of treatment for COVID-19 infection in patients who underwent kidney transplant living related donors during the global pandemic in Uzbekistan. MATERIALS AND METHODS: After a decree from the Cabinet of Ministers of the Republic of Uzbekistan in October 2017 for approval and regulations for related kidney and (or) liver lobe procedures, our center performed 609 kidney transplants from living related donors between 2017 and 2022, with 320 procedures during the pandemic. There were 228 transplant recipients with COVID-19 infections and COVID-19-associated pneumonia. RESULTS: Of total cases with COVID-19, 71% had moderate disease severity. Of patients who under went kidney transplant, 42% had pneumonia associated with COVID-19 infection. After lung damage was confirmed by multislice computed tomography of the lungs, patients were sent to the intensive care unit for appropriate treatment to ensure a quick recovery without possible complications to the graft. CONCLUSIONS: The Ministry of Health of the Republic of Uzbekistan indicated the possibility of treatment of patients with moderate and severe COVID-19 disease with monoclonal antibodies that block interleukin 6 receptors (tocilizumab and sarilumab). With timely detection of symptoms of COVID-19infection, treatment, and the use of prevention methods, kidney transplant recipients of living related donors had fewer complications of the disease than expected.