The patient had permanent lung damage tied to COVID-19 and had required extracorporeal membrane oxygenation prior to the transplant.
A few critically ill COVID-19 patients from San Antonio have also undergone lung transplants, but the procedures were all performed elsewhere.
Nationally, only a small number of COVID-19 patients have met the criteria for double lung transplants. To be eligible, patients must have irreversible lung damage but be able to participate in rehabilitation before the surgery.
University’s staff was bracing for a difficult surgery, said Edward Sako, MD, PhD, surgical director of the hospital’s lung transplant program and a professor of cardiothoracic surgery at UT Health San Antonio. Other transplant centers have reported high levels of scarring in COVID-19 patients’ chests, but Dr. Sako said this patient didn’t have such scarring.
Deborah Levine, MD, medical director of University’s lung transplant program, predicts the program will perform transplants for individuals suffering long-term COVID-19 effects, in addition to critically sick virus patients. The center expects to receive more referrals for COVID-19 transplants as more patients realize it’s an option, Dr. Levine said, adding that more transplant referrals are likely as COVID-19 surges across the U.S.
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