Liver transplantation during the COVID-19 epidemic : recommendations from the Belgian Liver Intestine Transplant Committee (BeLIAC)
| Journal | Volume 83 - 2020 |
| Issue | Fasc.2 - Expert Point of View |
| Author(s) | G. Dahlqvist 1, O. Ciccarelli 1, H. Van Vlierberghe 2, F. Berrevoet 2, T. Vanwolleghem 3, D. Ysebaert 3, T. Gustot 4, V. Lucidi 4, J. Delwaide 5, O. Detry 5, M.H. Delbouille 6, E. Sokal 7, F. Nevens 8, J. Pirenne 8 |
| Full article |
 PAGES 340-343 VIEW FREE PDF |
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Affiliations: (1) UCL Liver Transplant Program; Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium
(2) UZ Gent Liver Transplant Program, Universitair Ziekenhuis, Gent, Belgium (3) UZ Antwerpen Liver Transplant Program, Universitair Ziekenhuis, Antwerpen, Belgium (4) ULB Liver Transplant Program; Hopital Universitaire Erasme, Brussels, Belgium (5) ULg Liver Transplant Program, Hopital Universitaire du Sart Tilman, Liège, Belgium (6) BTS Section of the Transplant Coordinators, Hopital Universitaire du Sart Tilman, Liège, Belgium (7) Pediatric Liver Transplantation, Cliniques Universitaires Saint-Luc, Brussels, Belgium (8) KUL Liver Transplant Program, Universitair Ziekenhuis Gasthuisberg, Leuven, Belgium |
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Since January 2020, the Novel Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has dramatically impacted the world. In March 2020, the COVID-19 epidemic reached Belgium creating uncertainty towards all aspects of life. There has been an impressive capacity and solidarity of all healthcare professionals to acutely reconvert facilities to treat these patients. In the context of liver transplantation (LTx), concerns are raised about organ donation shortage and safety, the ethics of using limited healthcare resources for LTx, selection criteria for LTx during the epidemic and the risk of de novo COVID-19 infection on the waiting list and after LTx. BeLIAC makes several recommendations to try to mitigate the deleterious effect that this epidemic has/will have on donation and LTx, taking into account the available resources, and trying to maximize patients and healthcare professionals’ safety Keywords: COVID-19 epidemic, liver transplantation, resources. |
| The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. |
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© Acta Gastro-Enterologica Belgica. PMID 32603060 |
