Background : Solid organ transplants from COVID-19 positive donors were avoided due to concerns about the risk of COVID-19 infection in transplant recipients in the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic. However, contrary to initial concerns, the possibility of transmitting the COVID-19 through blood or solid organs is very low, so organ transplants for positive COVID-19 donors are currently actively underway in Korea. Therefore, we would like to report the first case of COVID-19 positive brain death donor in Korea.

Methods : The first COVID-19 positive brain death donor organ transplant recipient in Korea that occurred on March 6, 2022 was analyzed to determine whether they were infected and the transplant results until August 2022.

Results : The donor was a 46-year-old female with no history and was diagnosed with meningioma and was diagnosed brain dead during treatment. The donor was first diagnosed for the COVID-19 on February 21, 2022 (D0), and then on March 2, 2022 (Ct:21.59, D9) and March 4 (Ct:31.5, D11) PCR tests confirmed positive. After the brain death judgment on March 6, 2022 (D13), liver, kidney 1, and kidney 2 were donated to non-COVID-19 recipients, respectively.

Recipients of liver, kidney1, and kidney2 all had no COVID-19 infection from organ transplantation, and organ function tests at follow-up in the past 5 months after transplantation were all good.

Conclusion : The organ donation of the first COVID-19 donor in Korea completed liver, kidney 1, and kidney 2 transplants to non-COVID-19 recipients, and the transplant results were good without infection. Since the first case, organ donation of COVID-19 infected donor has been actively carried out in Korea, and so far, no cases of COVID-19 infection have occurred through organ transplantation. It is believed that a minimum isolation period is necessary for the safety of medical staff and recipients, but COVID-19 infection is not an important factor in determining whether or not it can be organ donated, as studies show that the possibility of COVID-19 infection through solid organs excluding the lung is extremely low regardless of donors symptoms. In addition, through continuous data accumulation and research on COVID-19 donors and recipients, it is considered necessary to maintain a pool of donors and activate donations despite the burden of the medical field that is prolonged due to the COVID-19 resurgence.