Background: Extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) may serve as a bridge to
successful lung transplantation (LT) in selected patients with coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-
19) pneumonia. Compliance with the recognized LT criteria however, may be impossible to
be met in this particular and extremely challenging group of patients. This situation create
huge moral and ethical dilemmas. To indicate this, we decided to explore this difficult topic
and present how non-compliance to the recognized LT criteria enabled us to perform three
successful and life-saving LT procedures in COVID-19 patients.
Methods: Data of all consecutive patients on ECMO support as rescue treatment for COVID-
19 pneumonia, awaiting LT at SCHD between October 1, 2020 and May 31, 2021 were
reviewed.
Results: 18 patients on ECMO entered the list for LT at SCHD (mean age: 40.5 ± 5.6 years,
range 28–48 years). Mean duration of ECMO was 29.6 ± 15.5 days (range 6–71 days). 11
patients died: either during LT (n = 3), post-LT (n = 1), or on ECMO awaiting LT (n = 7).
The overall mortality rate in this group was 61.1%. Survivors (n=7) were either successfully
transplanted (n = 3) or weaned from ECMO (n = 4). In the medical literature, there are several
enthusiastic case reports describing successful LTs, however there might be a significant
publication bias in this area, as failed procedures probably remain largely under-reported.
There are no data to indicate the right time for LT in post-COVID-19 patients. Experts in this
field require minimum recovery period of 4 weeks to exclude native lung recovery, active
participation in physical rehabilitation and the possibility of providing informed consent to
proceed with LT. All these conditions were impossible to be met in our patients awaiting LT
on ECMO support.
Conclusions: Traditional lung transplantation criteria are difficult to be applied in COVID-19
patients requiring ECMO support due to medical and ethical reasons. Performing LT without
prior consent of patients violates the ethical principles of solid organ transplants, but may be
life-saving in some patients.