Heart and Lung Transplantation in the Era of COVID-19: Early Recommendations and Outcomes.

Kapriniotis, Konstantinos; Giannis, Dimitrios; Geropoulos, Georgios; Evangeliou, Alexandros P; Ziogas, Ioannis A; Panagiotopoulos, Nikolaos

The severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 pandemic has dramatically changed medical practices worldwide. These changes have been aimed both to reallocate resources toward fighting the novel coronavirus and to prevent its transmission during nonurgent medical and surgical interventions. Heart and lung transplantation could not be an exception, as most transplant centers have either restricted their activity to only urgent, lifesaving procedures or stopped these surgical procedures for various periods of time depending on the local virus epidemiology. The effect of this infection on the immunosuppressed heart and lung transplant recipient is still questionable; however, there are limited reports suggesting that there is no increased risk of transmission or more severe disease course compared with that shown in the general population. Transplant organizations have disseminated early recommendations as a guidance in a yet evolving situation. Finally, data suggest that lung transplant could potentially serve as an ultimate, lifesaving procedure for COVID-19-related end-stage respiratory failure in carefully selected patients.