According to a study that was published on May 11, the number of organ transplantations fell dramatically during the coronavirus pandemic. In early April, the number of deceased donor organ transplants dropped by 51.1% in the United States and 90.6% in France when compared to February.
Transplantations decreased in half
The authors of the study noted that kidney, lung, heart, and liver transplantations had decreased greatly in number. The study was published in the medical journal The Lancet. The study combined organ procurement data from federal agencies in the United States and France and it showed substantial reductions in the procedure.
The researchers said that they noted a strong temporal association between the increase in COVID-19 infections and a striking reduction in overall solid-organ transplantation procedures.
One explanation for the reduction of transplantations is the concern that transplant recipients are more susceptible to infection. Another concern is that there are not enough resources in terms of staff or equipment in hospitals to care for patients after the procedure, according to the researchers.
The authors of the study wrote that the decisions about how to use the medical resources could be devastating for the thousands of patients in need of an organ transplant because the medical resources are limited right now. While living donor organ transplants could be rescheduled, deceased donor organs must be procured as soon as possible or the opportunity to do the procedure will be lost.
Limited movements and resources
Helen Irving, CEO of LiveOnNY, said that virtual grounding of commercial airline flights is also a problem. People from organ procurement organizations would usually fly organs across the country when needed for a transplant. Now, with a lot of planes grounded and few commercial flights every day, the doctors are relying on local donations.
Irving says that in the past, more than 30 families in the New York area agree to organ donation once their loved one has passed away. Now, she says that there will be only 6 to 7 donations every month until the pandemic dies down. Irving added that those who are on the waitlist are even more fearful than they were before.
Irving added that despite the new limitations imposed by COVID-19, her organization is still continuing to do a small number of emergency transplants and they will do so as long as donor organs and hospital resources are available. She also said that they are focusing on patients who are in dire need of organs and those that can survive using technology like dialysis will need to wait.
Complications of transplants
According to the researchers of the study, there was no clear link between reductions in organ transplantation rates and COVID-19 hotspots that suggests a global and nationwide effect beyond local infections.
Patients who need organ transplants are usually at the end-stage organ failure, which is the final and permanent state in organ damage. In the United States, around 40,000 patients receive an organ transplant every year, but 120,000 patients remain on a waiting list for transplantation, with 7,600 individuals dying every year while waiting for an organ transplant.
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