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Favipiravir Use in Kidney Transplant Recipients with Covid 19: A Single Center Experience
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  • Burcu Kaya,
  • Dilek Barutcu Atas,
  • Elif Tigen Tükenmez,
  • Ebru Asicioglu,
  • Hakki Arikan ,
  • Serhan Tuglular,
  • Arzu Velioglu
Burcu Kaya
Marmara University School of Medicine

Corresponding Author:burcu_kutuk@hotmail.com

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Dilek Barutcu Atas
Marmara University School of Medicine
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Elif Tigen Tükenmez
Marmara University School of Medicine
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Ebru Asicioglu
Marmara University School of Medicine
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Hakki Arikan
Marmara University School of Medicine
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Serhan Tuglular
Marmara University School of Medicine
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Arzu Velioglu
Marmara University School of Medicine
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Abstract

Aim: Kidney transplant patients are amongst the high-risk groups for severe Covid 19. To date, no specific antiviral agent has been found uniformly effective against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2). Favipiravir, the recommended drug by The Turkish Ministry of Health, was uniformly supplied to all patients diagnosed to have COVID 19 with a positive nasopharyngeal swap PCR test. The aim of our study was to retrospectively compare our kidney transplant recipients who developed COVID-19 infection started on Favipiravir to those who did not use Favipiravir for the clinical course of the disease with a special emphasis on the occurrence of side effects/adverse events. Methods: Thirty-seven consecutive KT recipients with a median age of 46 years and of whom 62.2% were women; 8 deceased /29 living related donor, with a 8.0 (5.5-12.5) years median duration of transplantation were included in the study. Results: Twenty-six (70.3%) patients received Favipiravir, 11(29.7%) did not. There was no statistical significance in baseline demographic, clinical and laboratory findings between the groups except that the Favipiravir group was older and had a higher requirement of oxygen treatment. There was no statistically significant difference in the course and outcome of COVID-19 infection, in the occurrence of side effects/adverse events related to Favipiravir between the two groups. Laboratory data at baseline, day7 and 30 were also comparable between the groups. Conclusion: Although the efficacy of Favipiravir in the treatment of COVID-19 infection is currently controversial, Favipiravir can safely be used in kidney transplant patients.
03 Jan 2022Published in Experimental and Clinical Transplantation. 10.6002/ect.2021.0252