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World J Clin Cases. Sep 26, 2021; 9(27): 7986-7997
Published online Sep 26, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i27.7986
Coronavirus disease 2019 and renal transplantation
Mahmoud Nassar, Nso Nso, Jonathan Ariyaratnam, Jasmine Sandhu, Mahmoud Mohamed, Bahaaeldin Baraka, Atif Ibrahim, Mostafa Alfishawy, David Zheng, Harangad Bhangoo, Karim M Soliman, Matthew Li, Vincent Rizzo, Ahmed Daoud
Mahmoud Nassar, Nso Nso, Jonathan Ariyaratnam, Jasmine Sandhu, David Zheng, Harangad Bhangoo, Department of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (NYC Health and Hospitals: Queens), New York, NY 10029, United States
Mahmoud Mohamed, Department of Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN 38163, United States
Bahaaeldin Baraka, Department of Oncology, Southend University Hospital, NHS Foundation Trust, Essex SS0 0RY, United Kingdom
Atif Ibrahim, Renal Division, Department of Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Center, Memphis, TN 38163, United States
Mostafa Alfishawy, Infectious Diseases, Infectious Diseases Consultants and Academic Researchers of Egypt IDCARE, Cairo 0000, Egypt
Karim M Soliman, Department of Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC 29425, United States
Matthew Li, Department of Clinical Pharmacy, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (NYC Health and Hospitals: Queens), New York, NY 10029, United States
Vincent Rizzo, Department of Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai (NYC Health and Hospitals: Queens), New York, NY 11373, United States
Ahmed Daoud, Department of Medicine, Kasr Alainy Medical School, Cairo University, Cairo 11562, Egypt
Author contributions: Nassar M, Nso N, Ariyaratnam J, Sandhu J, Mohamed M, Baraka B, Ibrahim A, Alfishawy M, Zheng D, Bhangoo H, Soliman KM, and Li M participated in writing the manuscript; Rizzo V and Daoud A reviewed the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that there are no any conflicts of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ahmed Daoud, MBChB, MD, MSc, PhD, Lecturer, Staff Physician, Department of Medicine, Kasr Alainy Medical School, Cairo University, Kasr Alainy Street, Cairo 11562, Egypt. ahmed.daoud84@yahoo.com
Received: March 2, 2021
Peer-review started: March 3, 2021
First decision: May 5, 2021
Revised: May 17, 2021
Accepted: August 10, 2021
Article in press: August 10, 2021
Published online: September 26, 2021
Processing time: 197 Days and 10.4 Hours
Abstract

Ever since the severe acute respiratory syndrome virus causing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) struck the world, global health strategies have changed significantly. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, kidney transplant recipients are stratified as being high risk of developing fatal illness from COVID-19 infection. Kidney transplant is the gold-standard treatment for end-stage kidney disease subjects. During the pandemic, significant concerns have emerged regarding continuation of kidney transplant surgeries and management of kidney transplant recipients post-transplant. The added risk of immunosuppression in this cohort was and remains a theoretical concern, posing a potential risk of transplantation rather than benefit. This comprehensive review aims to cover most of the faced challenges in kidney transplantation in different stages of the pandemic. In addition, it will elucidate the epidemiology, nature, course of the disease, surgical consideration in donors and recipients as well as role of immunosuppression and management of COVID-19 infected kidney transplant recipients during these extraordinary circumstances.

Keywords: Renal transplantation; COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Kidney failure

Core Tip: This comprehensive review aims to cover most of the faced challenges in kidney transplantation in different stages of the pandemic. In addition, it will elucidate the epidemiology, nature, course of the disease, surgical consideration in donors and recipients as well as role of immunosuppression and management of coronavirus disease 2019 infected kidney transplant recipients during these extraordinary circumstances.