Covid Spawns ‘Completely New Category’ of Organ Transplants

April 13, 2021

(Kaiser Health News) – Nearly six months later, the transplant landscape has radically changed. Covid-related transplants are surging as hospitals grapple with a growing subset of patients whose organs — most often hearts and lungs — are “basically destroyed by the virus,” said Dr. Jonathan Orens, a lung transplant expert at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore. Nearly 60 transplants were performed through March 31 for patients with covid-related organ disease, according to figures released Monday by the United Network for Organ Sharing, which oversees transplants in the U.S.