Covid-19 in kidney transplant recipients with immunosuppressive therapy

Background: Since the outbreak of COVID-19, various treatments have been frequently reported for patients infected with this virus, especially in transplant patient recipients. Investigating o the literature and organ transplant patients with COVID-19, it could pave the way to understanding, handling, and treatment of COVID-19. Methods: We had a brief review of the literature on immunosuppressive therapy in kidney transplants infected with COVID-19 based on the PubMed Database by keywords “kidney, transplant, COVID-19, and immunosuppress” after hospitalization of a kidney transplant reception infected with COVID-19. He had already been recorded in the Organ Transplant Registry (ID≠ 64510) of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences /Iran. Results: We reported the clinical course of a 45-year-old man with a history of kidney transplant and immunotherapy who was infected with COVID-19 with respiratory infections and positive RT-PCR (Real-time polymerase chain reaction). He was treated with hydroxychloroquine, Kaletra, Cellcept, and Prednisolone for 5 days, and finally discharged from the hospital. In addition, the reviewing of 48 papers with 745 samples showed that immunosuppressant medications alone could be a therapeutic choice in kidney transplants infected with COVID-19 with careful management. Conclusion: The patients with organ transplantation infected with COVID-19 may show different clinical signs, clinical course, and prognosis due to underlying diseases and the use of immunosuppressant medications. It might be best to continue taking the immunosuppressant medications but to modify them based on patients conditions such as clinical symptoms, laboratory results, paraclinical examinations.