SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article
Front. Immunol.
Sec. Alloimmunity and Transplantation
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1626391
This article is part of the Research TopicMethods in Alloimmunity and Transplantation: 2025View all 6 articles
Impact of recent COVID-19 Infection on liver and kidney transplantation -A worldwide metaanalysis and systematic review
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of General, Visceral, and Vascular Surgery, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Jena, Germany
- 2Department of Surgery, Klinikum Dortmund gGmbH, Dortmund, Witten/Herdecke University, Germany, Dortmund, Germany
- 3Ajmera Transplant Centre, Toronto General Hospital, University Health Network, Toronto, ON, Canada, toronto, Canada
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The shortage of suitable donor organs represents an ongoing global challenge for organ transplantation. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of transplantable organs was especially limited. To date, the impact of recent coronavirus-19 (COVID-19) infection on liver and kidney transplant recipients has not been systematically analyzed, which is essential for the development of future transplant management. We conducted a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the clinical outcomes of recent COVID-19 infection in the donor (1) or the recipient (2). A total of 17 studies were considered for systematic review, seven of these were included for meta-analysis. Transplantation of COVID-19 positive donors did not result in an impaired graft survival for liver or kidney transplantation up to 180-days of follow up. Additionally, a positive COVID-19 donor status was not associated with decreased overall survival in kidney transplant recipients within 180 days of transplantation. Nevertheless, an association was found with decreased overall survival in liver transplant recipients within the 180-day follow-up period. However, the heterogeneity of studies investigating COVID-19 infection of the recipient did not allow a classification of the significance of COVID-19 positive recipients. Conclusively, a COVID-19 positive donor status should not be considered as an exclusive factor for declining a suitable liver or kidney for transplantation.
Keywords: COVID - 19, kidney transplanation, Liver Transplantation, meta analysis, Systematic review, Sars - cov - 2, Patient survival, Graft Survival
Received: 10 May 2025; Accepted: 11 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Pollmann, Pollmann, Dondorf, Rauchfuß, Settmacher and Selzner. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence:
Nicola Sariye Pollmann, Department of General, Visceral, and Vascular Surgery, Jena University Hospital, Jena, Jena, Germany
Lukas Pollmann, Department of Surgery, Klinikum Dortmund gGmbH, Dortmund, Witten/Herdecke University, Germany, Dortmund, Germany
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