Organ transplants in US, France dive due to virus

Organ transplants plummeted in U.S. and France as COVID-19 marched through, with surgeons wary of endangering living dors or unable to retrieve possibly usable organs from de -- and hospitals sometimes too full even when y could.

From end of February into early April, deceased dor transplants -- most common kind -- dropped by half in U.S. and by a staggering 91% in France, a team of U.S. and French researchers reported Monday in Lancet.

66 year-old Herb Hoeptner was lucky to get a kidney from his wife in March, during COVID-19 outbreak.

" kidney issue was a life or death thing, more so virus, but where it became abundantly tricky was when y explained to me that y were canceling all kinds of surgeries," said Hoeptner.

Living donations nearly disappeared, according to data from United Network for Organ Sharing, or US, which runs U.S. transplant system.

week of March 8, re were 151 living dor transplants in U.S. week of April 5, re were 16.

"y're still essential transplants for recipient and  central surgery for recipient. But ne of us really wanted to put living dors who are healthy people doing this for altruistic reasons in any increased risk," said Dr. Kim Olthoff, Chief of Transplant Surgery at Penn Medicine.

It's too soon to kw how many people waiting for a lifesaving organ transplant may die t from COVID-19 but because pandemic delayed or blocked ir chance at getting a new organ in time.

new analysis shows vast majority of missed transplants were among people who need a new kidney and can get dialysis while y wait, but heart, lung and liver transplants declined, too.

By late April, U.S. data shows transplants slowly inching back, as hospitals struggle to determine how to safely ramp up -- and geographic variation could offer important lessons.

"In May, things have started to suggest that maybe we've seen bottom and number of transplants have started inch up a little bit, although certainly that's true.

I think for a living dor transplants in most recent data, that's a little less clear about deceased dor transplants at this point," said Dr. David Klassen, Chief Medical Officer of United Network for Organ Sharing (US).

Lancet researchers found a drop in transplants even in parts of each country where COVID-19 counts were low. But France's larger drop may be due to more centralized public health policies than in U.S., where restrictions vary widely from state to state.

In an aver month, New York does about 220 transplants statewide. In first weeks of April, that h dropped to 23.

In contrast, University of California, San Francisco, in an area with less COVID-19 spre, has seen much smaller dips in transplants than many rast hospitals.

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