Telemedicine in the care of kidney transplant recipients with COVID-19

ABSTRACT

Introduction: Kidney transplant (KT) recipients with COVID-19 symptoms are bringing challenges to providers given the risk of COVID-19 exposure to health care workers, patients, and the public. Case Description Three KT recipients with COVID-19 were managed using telemedicine via synchronous video visits integrated with an electronic medical records system, from home to inpatient settings (Figure 1-2). Patient 1 is a 53-year-old male s/p KT in 2012;Patient 2 is a 56-year-old female s/p KT in 2019;and Patient 3 is a 53-yearold female s/p simultaneous liver-kidney transplant in 2014. Patients 1 and 3 had followup COVID-19 NAT testing Patient 1 converted to be negative at 24 & 28 days, whereas Patient 2 converted to be negative at 45 & 48 days. Discussion: Telemedicine helped assess, diagnose, triage, and treat patients with COVID-19 while avoiding an ER or outpatient clinic visit. We highlight the value of telemedicine in the maintenance of uninterrupted follow-up care for immunosupressed patients with prolong viral shedding.