in focus
UNOS collaborated with eight global transplant organizations and societies on four COVID-19 organ donation and transplant town hall webinars that have received more than 25,000 views.
Global organ donation and transplantation organizations acted swiftly to share real-world experiences.
As COVID-19 cases began increasing globally, conversations among health care providers about the pandemic’s potential impact on transplant started to emerge.
Within a few days, organ donation and transplant communities from around the world assembled to collaborate on a webinar series sharing real-world, global experiences for the organ donation and transplant community. Along with United Network for Organ Sharing, participating organizations included:
- American Society of Transplantation
- Association of Organ Procurement Organizations
- American Society of Transplant Surgeons
- North American Transplant Coordinators Organization
- United Network for Organ Sharing
- Canadian Society of Transplantation
- European Society of Transplantation
- International Society for Heart and Lung Transplantation
- The Transplant Society
The societies launched their first live, collaborative webinar “COVID-19: Organ Donation and Transplant Town Hall,” on March 23, and the 1,000 available seats filled up within a few hours. Collaboration continued over the following weeks with three additional webinars, including the most recent webinar on May 11, covering topics ranging from:
- Presentation, diagnosis, treatment and prevention
- Getting to transplant
- Operational issues
- Screening donors and candidates
- Protecting the workforce
- Ethical issues
The societies aren’t done yet, with future plans to produce more collaborative webinars on navigating COVID-19, as well as topics unrelated to the pandemic.
Read more about the COVID-19 pandemic and collaboration within the transplant community.
In focus
Analyzing equity in access to kidney transplants in the COVID-19 era
Data show transplants for four major ethnic groups rebounded after initial decline, Hispanics had steepest decline and smallest rebound.
Analysis of allocation changes for en bloc deceased donor kidneys
Data shows that the proportion of en bloc transplants to low EPTS patients more than doubled after implementation.
Analyzing the impact of transplant policy and system modifications in response to the COVID-19 pandemic
Data reveals the community’s continued commitment to provide the best care to their patients.
Analysis of DCD heart donation on organ yield
Research shows that DCD heart donation does not impact the recovery and transplantation of other organs
