COVID-19 in solid organ transplant recipients: a single-center case series from Spain.

Fernández-Ruiz, Mario; Andrés, Amado; Loinaz, Carmelo; Delgado, Juan F; López-Medrano, Francisco; San Juan, Rafael; González, Esther; Polanco, Natalia; Folgueira, María Dolores; Lalueza, Antonio; Lumbreras, Carlos; Aguado, José María

The clinical characteristics, management and outcome of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) after solid organ transplantation (SOT) remain unknown. We report our preliminary experience with 18 SOT (kidney [44.4%], liver [33.3%] and heart [22.2%]) recipients diagnosed with COVID-19 by March 23, 2020 at a tertiary-care center at Madrid. Median age at diagnosis was 71.0 ± 12.8 years, and the median interval since transplantation was 9.3 years. Fever (83.3%) and radiographic abnormalities in form of unilateral or bilateral/multifocal consolidations (72.2%) were the most common presentations. Lopinavir/ritonavir (usually associated with hydroxychloroquine [HCQ]) was used in 50.0% of patients, and had to be prematurely discontinued in two of them. Other antiviral regimens included HCQ monotherapy (27.8%) and interferon-β (16.7%). As of April 4, the case fatality rate was 27.8% (5/18). After a median follow-up of 18 days from symptom onset, 30.8% (4/13) of survivors developed progressive respiratory failure, 7.7% (1/13) showed stable clinical condition or improvement, and 61.5% (8/13) had been discharged home. C reactive protein levels at various points were significantly higher among recipients that experienced unfavorable outcome. In conclusion, this frontline report suggests that SARS-CoV-2 infection has a severe course in SOT recipients.