COVID-19 test result reporting for deceased donors: Emergent policies, logistical challenges, and future directions

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Krista L. Lentine, St Louis University; Neeraj Singh, John C. McDonald Regional Transplant Center; Kenneth J. Woodside, University of Michigan; Mark A. Schnitzler, St Louis University; Ruixin Li, St Louis University; Tarek Alhamad, Washington University in St. Louis; Richard Rothweiler, Mid-America Transplant; Ronald Parsons, Emory University; Roslyn B. Mannon, University of Nebraska Medical Center; Jon Snyder, Scientific Registry of Transplant Recipients; Matthew Cooper, Medstar Georgetown Transplant Institute; David A. Axelrod, University of Iowa
• Language: English
• Date: 2021-03-25
• Publisher: WILEY
• Publication Version: Final Published Version
• Copyright Statement: © 2021 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd
• Final Published Version (URL): http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/ctr.14280
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: CLINICAL TRANSPLANTATION
• Volume: 35
• Issue: 5
• Start Page: e14280
• End Page: e14280
• Keywords: Surgery; Transplantation; Science & Technology; Life Sciences & Biomedicine
• Research Categories: Health Sciences, Health Care Management; Biology, Virology; Health Sciences, Medicine and Surgery

Abstract

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic poses unprecedented challenges to the transplant community, including organ procurement organizations (OPOs), transplant centers, regulatory agencies, and recipient candidates. Access to timely, accurate information on the status of deceased donor viral infection is essential in determining organ acceptance. The Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network expeditiously added fields to collect these data; however, use of the data collection fields was not uniform nationally. Standardized, field-defined data capture and reporting are vital to ensure optimal organ utilization during this pandemic, and to prepare the community for subsequent challenges.