Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is currently a significant cause of acute respiratory failure worldwide, leading to irreversible fibrotic lung disease. In patients with persistent respiratory failure after acute COVID-19 infection, lung transplant is an emerging option. Here, we have presented a case where the patient required venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (VV-ECMO) support for 33 days until a bilateral lung transplant was performed on day 71 after the initial COVID-19 infection. The early outcomes have been favorable. Currently, no guidelines exist for an acceptable time period after initial COVID-19 infection, duration of negative COVID polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, or negative Vero cell culture in the setting of persistent positive COVID PCR testing before listing for a lung transplant. Due to a lack of standardized guidelines, this patient was not listed for a lung transplant until the COVID-19 PCRs came negative on days 47 and 49 after the infection.
Document Type
Article
Publication Date
8-13-2021
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.17152
Repository Citation
Sajid, Fatima; Ahmed, Taha; Baz, Maher A.; and Anstead, Michael I., "Lung Transplantation in a Patient with COVID-19-Associated Acute Respiratory Failure" (2021). Internal Medicine Faculty Publications. 277.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/internalmedicine_facpub/277
Notes/Citation Information
Published in Cureus, v. 13, issue 8, e17152.
Copyright © 2021, Sajid et al.
This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License CC-BY 4.0., which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.