Recovery From COVID-19 Pneumonia in a Heart Transplant Recipient: A Case Report

Solid-organ transplant patients have a high risk of severe infection related to acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-Cov-2). This case represents a 54-year-old woman known as a diabetic, hypothyroidism, and a recent heart transplant recipient who presented with a 1-week history of cough and fatigue. She was hypoxic on presentation to the hospital and progressively declined and required invasive mechanical ventilation. She had respiratory distress and hypoxia and chest x-ray showed progressive bilateral chest infiltrates. She had leukopenia of 3.5 cells *109/L and lymphopenia of 0.2 cells *109/L. The inflammatory markers were increased: C-reactive protein, 25 mg/L; ferritin, 1106 ng/mL; lactate dehydrogenase, 632 U/L; and interleukin-6, 87 pg/mL. She was treated for severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia. Her treatment involved supportive care with mechanical ventilation, convalescent plasma transfusion, antiviral therapy with favipiravir, intravenous dexamethasone, and reduction of immune suppression medication. This case had a successful recovery through multidisciplinary team management. Solid-organ transplant recipients are a high-risk population who need an individualized care plan for the optimization of immunosuppressive medication and treatment of the COVID-19 infection.