Short-Term Outcomes Among Lung Transplant Recipients from SARS-CoV-2+ Donors and Evaluation of Lung Function Among SARS-CoV-2+ Donors

There are reports of successful lung transplants using SARS-CoV-2+ donors, but the data on their overall outcome is limited. We used the United Network for Organ Sharing Database (UNOS) to identify all lung transplant patients who received lungs from SARS-CoV-2+ donors between 2020 and 2023. There was no difference in survival between those who received lungs from SARS-CoV-2- and SARS-CoV-2+ donors (P = .60). In addition, the timing of the SARS-CoV-2 test for donors did not affect the outcomes among recipients. Among all SARS-CoV-2+ donors identified since 2020, the lungs used came from younger donors, had better chest x-ray findings, and had a higher P/F ratio. Our data suggest that organ function may be more important than SARS-CoV-2 status when using lungs from SARS-CoV-2+ donors. Further research and follow-up are still needed to adequately address the use of lungs from SARS-CoV-2+ donors, thus further increasing the donor pool.