COVID-19 in pancreas transplant recipients.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a pandemic since first being described in January 2020. Clinical manifestations in non-transplant patients range from asymptomatic infection to severe pneumonia with acute respiratory distress syndrome, multiorgan system failure, and death. Limited reports in kidney transplant recipients suggest similar characteristics in that population. We report here the first case series of COVID-19 infection occurring in pancreas transplant recipients.

Nature, timing, and severity of complications from ultrasound-guided percutaneous renal transplant biopsy.

We sought to review our kidney transplant biopsy experience to assess the incidence, type, presenting symptoms, and timing of renal transplant biopsy complications, as well as determine any modifiable risk factors for postbiopsy complications. This is an observational analysis of patients at the University of Wisconsin between January 1, 2000, and December 31, 2009. Patients with an INR ≥1.5 or platelet counts less than 50 000 were not biopsied. An 18-gauge needle was used for biopsy. Over the study period, 3738 biopsies were performed with 66 complications (1.8%). No deaths occurred. A total of 0.7% were mild complications, 0.7% were moderate complications, 0.21% were severe complications, and 0.19% were life-threatening. Most complications occurred within the 4-h postbiopsy period, although serious complications were often delayed: 67% of complications requiring surgical intervention presented greater than 4 h after biopsy. Biopsy within 1 week of transplant had a 311% increased risk of a complication. Postbiopsy reduction in hematocrit and hemoglobin at 4 h was associated with a complication. In conclusion, life-threatening complications after renal allograft biopsy occurred in 0.19% of patients. Most complications occurred within 4 h postprocedure; however, many serious complications occurred with a time delay after initially uneventful monitoring. The only clinically significant laboratory predictor of a complication was a fall in the hematocrit or hemoglobin within 4 h. Patients biopsied within a week of transplant were at the highest risk for a complication and should therefore be most closely monitored.

Number of Donor Renal Arteries and Early Outcomes after Deceased Donor Kidney Transplantation.

Background: Anatomic abnormalities increase the risk of deceased donor kidney discard, but their effect on transplant outcomes is understudied. We sought to determine the effect of multiple donor renal arteries on early outcomes after deceased donor kidney transplantation. Methods: For this retrospective cohort study, we identified 1443 kidneys from 832 deceased donors with ≥1 kidney transplanted at our center (2006-2016). We compared the odds of delayed graft function and 90-day graft failure using logistic regression. To reduce potential selection bias, we then repeated the analysis using a paired-kidney cohort, including kidney pairs from 162 donors with one single-artery kidney and one multiartery kidney. Results: Of 1443 kidneys included, 319 (22%) had multiple arteries. Multiartery kidneys experienced longer cold ischemia time, but other characteristics were similar between groups. Delayed graft function (50% multiartery versus 45% one artery, P=0.07) and 90-day graft failure (3% versus 3%, P=0.83) were similar between groups before and after adjusting for donor and recipient characteristics. In the paired kidney analysis, cold ischemia time was significantly longer for multiartery kidneys compared with single-artery kidneys from the same donor (33.5 versus 26.1 hours, P<0.001), but delayed graft function and 90-day graft failure were again similar between groups. Conclusions: Compared with single-artery deceased donor kidneys, those with multiple renal arteries are harder to place, but experience similar delayed graft function and early graft failure.