New Scenarios in Heart Transplantation and Persistency of SARS-CoV-2 (Case Report)

Abstract

Heart transplantation is a treatment of choice for patients with severe heart failure. Infection transmission from a donor to a recipient remains a prominent problem in organ transplantation. However, the risk of SARS-CoV-2 transmission in nonlung organ transplantation is still unclear. In this article we presented a case of a 28-year-old pregnant woman who developed heart failure soon after recovery from a SARS-CoV-2 infection in the third trimester of gestation. In the postpartum period, the heart disease worsened and the patient required cardiac transplantation. We examined the recipient’s heart and made a diagnosis of left ventricular noncompaction cardiomyopathy. Immunohistochemical analysis showed SARS-CoV-2 antigen expression in the donor’s heart before transplantation, and after the transplantation, an endomyocardial biopsy was taken. Moreover, an ultrastructural assessment of the endomyocardial specimen revealed endothelial and pericyte injury and a single particle on the surface of the endothelium consistent with SARS-CoV-2 viral particles. Recent findings in the literature associated these damages with SARS-CoV-2 infection. The present study describes the rare case of SARS-CoV-2 transmission from donor to postpartum recipient through a heart transplant and demonstrates the importance of endomyocardial biopsy before and after heart transplantation.

Keywords

• SARS-CoV-2 infection
• immunohistochemical and ultrastructural myocardial studies
• heart transplantation
• virus transmission