Deep venous thrombosis in a kidney transplant recipient with COVID-19: a case report

Abstract

The outcomes of COVID-19 in kidney transplant recipients have shown high mortality. In addition to their immunocompromised states, kidney transplant recipients frequently have certain exacerbation risk comorbidities of COVID-19, such as diabetes mellitus, hypertension, and chronic kidney disease. Several concomitant diseases develop during the course of COVID-19, one of which is thromboembolism, which can potentially lead to a critical condition. However, thromboembolic complications in kidney transplant recipients with COVID-19 have not been fully addressed in previous studies. A 62-year-old man, who underwent kidney transplantation 17 years ago, was diagnosed with COVID-19 and was admitted to our hospital. Although the patient was in remission at the start of the hospitalization, his condition became severe on day 7 after admission, with fever, elevated white blood cell counts (10,000/μL) and a high C-reactive protein level (6.9 mg/dL). Although the patient was not under forced bed rest, an ultrasound study on day 10 detected deep venous thrombosis (DVT), with an elevated D-dimer level (6.2 µg/dL). We withdrew the mycophenolate mofetyl and the tacrolimus dosage but did not administer any specific treatment for COVID-19. The patient achieved successful clearance of SARS-CoV-2 on day 16. The DVT disappeared after systematic heparin treatment and oral rivaroxaban for 2 months. DVT occurred in a kidney transplant recipient with COVID-19 who was not bedridden and might manifest when the clinical status was exacerbated during hospitalization.