Successful Liver Transplantation in a Patient With Acute COVID-19 Infection and Acute Liver Failure: A Case Report

Kristen M Kidson; Jeieung Park; Marthe K Charles; Mahmoud Omar; Mel Krajden; Alissa J Wright; Trana Hussaini; Peter T W Kim; Stephen W Chung; Eric M Yoshida

doi:10.1097/TXD.0000000000001210

Successful Liver Transplantation in a Patient With Acute COVID-19 Infection and Acute Liver Failure: A Case Report

Transplant Direct. 2021 Aug 26;7(10):e747. doi: 10.1097/TXD.0000000000001210. eCollection 2021 Oct.

Authors

Kristen M Kidson^{1

2}, Jeieung Park¹, Marthe K Charles^{3

4}, Mahmoud Omar^{5

6}, Mel Krajden⁴, Alissa J Wright⁷, Trana Hussaini⁸, Peter T W Kim⁹, Stephen W Chung⁹, Eric M Yoshida⁶

Affiliations

¹ Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Care, Vancouver General Hospital, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
² Department of Critical Care Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
³ Division of Medical Microbiology & Infection Control, Vancouver Coastal Health Authority, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
⁴ Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
⁵ Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
⁶ Department of Hepatology and Gastroenterology, National Liver Institute, Menoufia University, Al Minufiyah, Egypt.
⁷ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
⁸ Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.
⁹ Department of General Surgery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada.

Abstract

Current liver transplantation societies recommend recipients with active coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) be deferred from transplantation for at least 2 wks, have symptom resolution and at least 1 negative severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) test.¹ This approach does not address patients who require urgent transplantation and will otherwise die from liver failure. We report a successful orthotopic liver transplant (OLT) in a patient with active COVID-19 infection. This is only the second to be reported worldwide and the first in Canada.