Coronavirus Disease 2019 Pandemic: Early Observations in Abdominal Organ Transplantation

Abstract

The recent COVID-19 outbreak has quickly become a worldwide pandemic emergency. The course of this pandemic is still unknown, with more than 6 million cases identified and over 370 000 deaths globally as of June 1, 2020. The uncertainty and anxiety during this period will have a detrimental effect on the global health system. The organ transplantation field has been negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially in regions where the intensity of cases exceeds the available capacity of the health care resources. Recently, scattered data have been published in the English literature, mainly in case reports and letters to the editor, that describe the effect of COVID-19 on donors and recipients of abdominal solid organs. Our objective is to review and draw conclusions from these data.