Organs from Donors with Positive SARS-CoV-2 NAT+ Testing: A Report from the Ad Hoc Disease Transmission Advisory Committee

ABSTRACT

Purpose: Decision to transplant organs from SARS-CoV-2 NAT+ donors(N+D) balances risk of donor-derived infection with the scarcity of available organs to meet the needs of waitlisted candidates. Method(s) OPTN Ad Hoc Disease Transmission Advisory Committee (DTAC) reports on the use of organs from N+D from the onset of required SARS-CoV-2 lower respiratory tract(LRT) testing for lung donors (May 27, 2021) through August 31, 2021. OPTN data were analyzed for donors with a positive LRT or upper respiratory tract (URT) test reported in DonorNet discrete data fields (N+D), compared with donors who did not have positive LRT or URT in the discrete data fields (N-D). Result(s) Organs were recovered from 120 N+D (all OPTN Regions and 40/57 OPOs (70%)). Median donor age was 42 (IQR 32-52) for N+D and 43 (30-56) for N-D. There was a greater proportion of DCD N+D than N-D (37.5% vs 28.3%, p=0.04). Underlying COD of anoxia and other were different (N+D 31.7%, 16.7% vs N-D 48%, 2.7%, respectively). Transplanted N+D and N-D did not differ by KDPI, LDRI or LVEF for kidney(KT), liver(LT) or heart(HT), respectively (Table 1). Median time from donor admission to first reported test (any result) was 0 and 4 days for URT and LRT, respectively. N+D recovery occurred a median of 2 (IQR 1-6) days from last positive test. 246 organs (152KT, 50LT, 22HT, 22other) were transplanted from 107 N+D compared to 8969 organs from 3348 N-D. Recipients from N+D and N-D were similar in age, MELD/PELD (LT) and medical urgency status (HT). Median time from listing to transplant similar for N+D for all organs. The match run sequence number for final acceptor was higher for N+D for all organ types (Table 2). Median length of stay was similar for N+D and N-D for KT and LT (5d and 12-13d, respectively). For HT, median stay was shorter for N+D (30 vs 34d). For N+D, 3 of 50 LT died within 30d of transplant. During this timeframe, no PDDTEs were reported for any N+D at the time of transplant. Conclusion(s) N+D and N-D were similar in terms organ quality characteristics. Recipients receiving organs from N+D had higher match run sequence numbers, suggesting use of organs from N+D is not widespread across centers;however, with small numbers, this data will need to be verified. We cannot assess the relatedness of the three early mortality events in N+D recipients to donor or recipient characteristics. However, these data highlight the importance of ongoing outcome review of N+D recipients. (Figure Presented).