The following is a summary of “Clinical characteristics and outcomes of lung transplantation in patients with severe COVID-19 infection: A systematic review and meta-analysis,” published in the July 2024 issue of Infectious Disease by Mi et al.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to analyze past clinical data on patients with COVID-19-associated acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) or pulmonary fibrosis (PF) who underwent lung transplantation (LTx). They compared the characteristics and outcomes of these patients to those who received lung transplants for non-COVID-19-related reasons.
They conducted a literature review across multiple databases, PubMed, Web of Science, Embase, the Cochrane Library, China Science and Technology Journal Database, and Wan Fang databases on LTx for COVID-19-related ARDS or PF.
The results showed 8 eligible studies with 478 patients with COVID-19-LTx and 163 non-COVID-19 LTx. The pooled hospital mortality for patients with COVID-19 LTx was 0.00% (95%CI 0.00-0.03), and the follow-up survival rate was 87.40% (95% CI 0.76-0.96). Patients with COVID-19-LTx had a significantly higher rate of primary graft dysfunction (OR 8.72, 95%CI 3.54-21.47, P<0.001) and a higher follow-up survival rate (OR 2.48, 95%CI 1.02-6.01, P=0.04) compared to patients with non-COVID-19 LTx, within a similar follow-up period.
Investigators concluded that LTx provided acceptable short-term results for patients with COVID-19-associated ARDS or PF, suggesting its potential as a life-saving intervention.
Source: ijidonline.com/article/S1201-9712(24)00247-9/fulltext