• José Medina Pestana, Marina Pontello Cristelli, Laila Almeida Viana, Ruan de Andrade Fernandes, Monica Rika Nakamura, Renato Demarchi Foresto, Suelen Bianca Stopa Martins, Daniel Wagner de Castro Lima Santos, Wilson Ferreira Aguiar, and Maria Lucia Dos Santos Vaz.
• Universidade Federal de São Paulo, Hospital do Rim - São Paulo (SP), Brazil.
• Rev Assoc Med Bras (1992). 2021 Jan 1; 67Suppl 1 (Suppl 1): 63-66.

ObjectiveThis study aims to describe the result of the strategies adopted to maintain the transplant program amid the COVID-19 pandemic.MethodsSince March 2020, several measures have been adopted sequentially, including the compulsory use of personal protective equipment and the real-time polymerase chain reaction testing of collaborators, symptomatic patients, potential deceased donors, candidates for recipients, and in-hospital readmissions, regardless of symptoms. The living-donor transplantation was restricted to exceptional cases.ResultsAmong 1013 health professionals, 201 cases of COVID-19 were confirmed between March and August 2020, with no severe cases reported. In this period, we observed a 19% institutional increase in the number of transplants from deceased donors compared with that observed in the same period in 2019. There was no donor-derived severe acute respiratory syndrome virus (SARS-CoV-2) infection. Four COVID-19-positive patients underwent transplantation; after 28 days, all were alive and with functioning allograft. Among the 11,875 already transplanted patients being followed up, there were 546 individuals with confirmed diagnosis, 372 who required hospitalization, and 167 on mechanical ventilation, resulting in a 27% mortality rate.ConclusionsThese data confirm that the adoption of sequential and coordinated measures amid the pandemic was able to successfully maintain the transplant program and ensure the safety of health professionals and transplanted patients who were already in follow-up.

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