Successful Liver Transplantation in a Patient With Acute COVID-19 Infection and Acute Liver Failure: A Case Report

Current liver transplantation societies recommend recipients with active coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) be deferred from transplantation for at least 2 wks, have symptom resolution and at least 1 negative severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) test.(1) This approach does not address patients who require urgent transplantation and will otherwise die from liver failure. We report a successful orthotopic liver transplant (OLT) in a patient with active COVID-19 infection. This is only the second to be reported worldwide and the first in Canada.

Automated summary

In cases where urgent liver transplantation is needed for patients with active COVID-19 infection, successful transplantation has been reported, saving the patient's life. This case is only the second of its kind worldwide and the first in Canada.