Korean J Transplant.  2022 Nov;36(Supple 1):S349. 10.4285/ATW2022.F-4929.

The impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the number of kidney transplantation at the National Kidney and Transplant Institute: a registry study

• Arakama Mh
• Danguilan R

• KMID: 2535576
• DOI: http://doi.org/10.4285/ATW2022.F-4929

Abstract

COVID-19 spreads rapidly throughout the Philippines. The first verified case of COVID-19 in the Philippines was detected on Jan-uary 30 after SARS-CoV-2 viral RNA was recovered from the initial swabs using a polymerase chain reaction. This study aimed to determine the impact of COVID-19 on the number of kidney transplantation (KT) performed at the National Kidney and Trans-plant Institute (NKTI) in the Philippines. Using the Organ Transplant Unit of the NKTI, the study compared the data of living donor kidney transplantation (LDKT) and deceased donor kidney transplantation (DDKT) from March to December 2019 to 2020. In March and April 2020, the NKTI suspended the KT program when the World Health Organization declared the COVID-19 pandem-ic, including the pretransplantation orientation. There were 300 KT conducted in 2019, compared to 129 KT in 2020, a decline of 43%. A monthly average of 7 LDKT in 2020, compared to 25 in 2019. There were 65 LDKTs were performed during the pandemic compared to 283 in 2019. Following the announcement of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no DDKT. In 2020, the majority of patients who received tacrolimus as their initial calcineurin inhibitor were between 31 and 40 years old, male, with chronic glo-merulonephritis as their primary kidney illness, blood type O+, and 3 human leukocyte antigen mismatches. Open donor nephrec-tomy was 42 (35%) versus 90 (32%). There was one retransplant (0.8%) in 2019, compared to 16 (5%). In 2020, nine patients (3%) died within a year after KT, but in 2021, only two (1.6% of patients) died. This study showed that the number of KT at the NKTI decreased throughout the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic and could resume safely while observing safety protocols. Due to the higher risk posed by dialysis patients, renal transplantation should be maintained. This could be accomplished through a phased approach based on risk tolerance and hospital capacity.