A case of successful treatment of severe COVID‐19 pneumonia with favipiravir and tocilizumab in post–kidney transplant recipient

Abstract

We report a case of COVID‐19 in kidney transplant patient in Thailand. A 58‐year‐old 2 years post–kidney transplant recipient, with maintenance immunosuppression of tacrolimus, mycophenolate mofetil (MMF), and prednisolone, presented with acute diarrhea which followed by fever on day 12. Symptoms of pneumonia together with lymphopenia from complete blood count were developed on day 7 after onset of fever with the x‐ray finding of bilateral multifocal patchy infiltration. COVID‐19 infection has been confirmed by reverse real‐time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in nasal swab as well as found in stool. Darunavir together with ritonavir, hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin, and favipiravir was initiated on the first day of admission at primary hospital. Patient has been transferred to our hospital on day 2 of admission in which tacrolimus together with MMF was discontinued. High‐flow nasal cannula oxygen therapy was required on days 4‐5 of hospitalization. Tocilizumab was administered after rising of serum IL‐6 level. Symptoms of pneumonia were improved in which no oxygen treatment required from day 10 of hospitalization. Drug interaction between tacrolimus and anti‐viral treatment leads to severely high level of tacrolimus which caused reversible acute kidney injury (AKI) after supportive treatment.

COVID-19 in immunocompromised patients: A systematic review of cancer, hematopoietic cell and solid organ transplant patients

“…To be included, the study must have reported clinical data on adult (A-CA) or pediatric (P-CA) cancer patients and SOT or HCT recipients with confirmed COVID-19. Our inclusion and exclusion criteria identified 64 SOT studies, 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 , 64 , 65 , 66 , 67 , 68 , 69 , 70 , 71 , 72 , 73 , 74 , 75 , 76 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80 , 81 , 82 , 83 , 84 , 85 , 86 , 87 , 88 , 89 , 90 11 HCT studies,…”

The Management of Immunosuppression in Kidney Transplant Recipients with COVID-19 Disease: An Update and Systematic Review of the Literature

“…Given the paucity of patients identified within the selection criteria in each selected article, the results are reported as a narrative review. Data extracted from each study [ 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 , 28 , 29 , 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 , 36 , 37 , 38 , 39 , 40 , 41 , 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 , 54 , 55 , 56 , 57 , 58 , 59 , 60 , 61 , 62 , 63 …”

Acute kidney injury in COVID 19 – an update on pathophysiology and management modalities

“…Antivirals should mainly be chosen with care, especially in recipients with long-term immunosuppressive therapy and with liver and renal dysfunction as it can affect the metabolism of drugs and leads to drug interactions (Xia and Wang 2020). Indeed, the interaction between antivirals (favipiravir) and tacrolimus was shown to cause reversible AKI (Thammathiwat et al 2020). Further, the simultaneous use of lopinavir/ritonavir (LPV/r) and HCQ as an antiviral regimen with tacrolimus in solid organ transplant recipients with COVID-19 is not recommended.…”