Cardiovascular Surgery and Interventions 2023, Vol 10, Num 1 Page(s): 068-071
Are we going to survive transplant during the coronavirus disease 2019 outbreak: A case report

Özge Altaş, Mustafa Özgür, Mehmet Aksüt, Kaan Kırali

Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Kartal Koşuyolu High Specialization Education and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Türkiye

Keywords: COVID-19, heart transplantation, immunosuppressive therapy
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) creates a challenge on donor selection, posttransplant management, and immunosuppressive therapy. A question arises about continuing heart transplantation due to risk of immunosuppressive therapy, as well as exposure during hospitalization. After the identification of the first COVID-19 patient, our center conducted the management of selection and treatment of candidates and continued to perform cardiac transplantations. Herein, we present two cases who underwent successful heart transplantation after the determination of patient zero in Türkiye to highlight clinical implications by describing our clinical principle in the ethical knowledge of the International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation COVID-19 task force statement regarding heart transplantation.

DOI : 10.5606/e-cvsi.2023.1492