Severe COVID-19 After Recent Heart Transplantation Complicated by Allograft Dysfunction

Juan Vilaro; Mohammad Al-Ani; Diana Gomez Manjarres; Jorge E Lascano; Kartik Cherabuddi; Akram Y Elgendy; Mark S Bleiweiss; Alex M Parker; Mustafa M Ahmed; Juan M Aranda Jr

doi:10.1016/j.jaccas.2020.05.066

Severe COVID-19 After Recent Heart Transplantation Complicated by Allograft Dysfunction

JACC Case Rep. 2020 Jul 15;2(9):1347-1350. doi: 10.1016/j.jaccas.2020.05.066. Epub 2020 Jun 8.

Affiliations

¹ Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
² Division of Pulmonary, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
³ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.
⁴ Congenital Heart Center, University of Florida Health Shands Children's Hospital, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida.

Abstract

A 50-year-old male presented with atrial flutter 25 days after heart and kidney transplantation. Rejection was excluded, but he developed severe COVID-19 infection with cardiac allograft dysfunction. Despite continued corticosteroid and tacrolimus therapy, he remained aviremic. Respiratory and myocardial functions recovered after a week of mechanical ventilation. The cardiomyopathy was stress induced. (Level of Difficulty: Advanced.).

Keywords: AMR, antibody-mediated rejection; COVID-19; COVID-19, coronavirus 2019; CRP, C-reactive protein; LVAD, left ventricular assist device; SARS-CoV-2; SARS-CoV-2, severe acute respiratory syndrome-coronavirus-2; cardiomyopathy; heart transplantation.

Publication types

Case Reports