Jan, Muhammad Y.Jawed, Areeba T.Barros, NicolasAdebiyi, OluwafisayoDiez, AlejandroFridell, Jonathan A.Goggins, William C.Yaqub, Muhammad S.Anderson, Melissa D.Mujtaba, Muhammad A.Taber, Tim E.Mishler, Dennis P.Kumar, VineetaLentine, Krista L.Sharfuddin, Asif A.2021-10-152021-10-152021-08-01Jan, M. Y., Jawed, A. T., Barros, N., Adebiyi, O., Diez, A., Fridell, J. A., Goggins, W. C., Yaqub, M. S., Anderson, M. D., Mujtaba, M. A., Taber, T. E., Mishler, D. P., Kumar, V., Lentine, K. L., & Sharfuddin, A. A. (2021). A National Survey of Practice Patterns for Accepting Living Kidney Donors With Prior COVID-19. Kidney International Reports, 6(8), 2066–2074. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ekir.2021.05.0032468-0249https://hdl.handle.net/1805/26786Introduction A critical question facing transplant programs is whether, when, and how to safely accept living kidney donors (LKDs) who have recovered from COVID-19 infection. The purpose of the study is to understand current practices related to accepting these LKDs. Methods We surveyed US transplant programs from 3 September through 3 November 2020. Center level and participant level responses were analyzed. Results A total of 174 respondents from 115 unique centers responded, representing 59% of US LKD programs and 72.4% of 2019 and 72.5% of 2020 LKD volume (Organ Procurement and Transplantation Network-OPTN 2021). In all, 48.6% of responding centers had received inquiries from such LKDs, whereas 44.3% were currently evaluating. A total of 98 donors were in the evaluation phase, whereas 27.8% centers had approved 42 such donors to proceed with donation. A total of 50.8% of participants preferred to wait >3 months, and 91% would wait at least 1 month from onset of infection to LD surgery. The most common reason to exclude LDs was evidence of COVID-19−related AKI (59.8%) even if resolved, followed by COVID-19−related pneumonia (28.7%) and hospitalization (21.3%). The most common concern in accepting such donors was kidney health postdonation (59.2%), followed by risk of transmission to the recipient (55.7%), donor perioperative pulmonary risk (41.4%), and donor pulmonary risk in the future (29.9%). Conclusion Practice patterns for acceptance of COVID-19−recovered LKDs showed considerable variability. Ongoing research and consensus building are needed to guide optimal practices to ensure safety of accepting such donors. Long-term close follow-up of such donors is warranted.enAttribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 InternationalCOVID-19kidney transplantationliving kidney donationpandemicrecovered living kidney donorsArticle