Urgent liver transplantation soon after recovery from COVID‐19 in a patient with decompensated liver cirrhosis

Martini, Silvia; Patrono, Damiano; Pittaluga, Fabrizia; Brunetto, Maurizia Rossana; Lupo, Francesco; Amoroso, Antonio; Cavallo, Rossana; Balagna, Roberto; Romagnoli, Renato

Italy has been the first Western nation facing COVID‐19 outbreak. Despite the emergency situation, all efforts have been done to preserve liver transplant (LT) activity and to minimize the impact of current scenario on transplant waiting list time and mortality. Little is known about COVID‐19 consequences in transplant candidates, especially those with limited life expectancy due to the severity of their baseline disease. We report here the case of a young patient requiring inpatient care due to severe decompensated liver disease (MELD 24), justifying her referral from her local hospital to our high‐volume LT unit, despite the unfavourable COVID‐19 epidemiology in our Region. She was quickly listed for liver transplant (MELD 26), but 5 days later she was incidentally diagnosed with COVID‐19 in the setting of our surveillance program for very sick patients and, despite her underlying condition, had an indolent course of the viral disease. Concerns about potential COVID‐19 consequences in a LT candidate were overruled by the severity of liver disease (MELD 36), forcing our team to proceed with an urgent successful LT as soon as 9 days after the COVID‐19 diagnosis, 2 days after the first negative SARS‐CoV‐2 RNA by a nasopharyngeal swab and 1 day after the confirmation of its negativity on bronchoalveolar lavage. The patient was discharged on day 9 after LT. In conclusion, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of a LT candidate recovering from a mild form of COVID19 and undergoing a successful LT shortly after. Aggressive care should be maintained in SARS‐CoV‐2‐positive patients with decompensated cirrhosis in order to overcome viral infection and to proceed as soon as possible with life‐saving treatment.