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Patients receiving kidneys transplanted from donors with either resolved or active COVID-19 show no greater risk of poor outcomes or death, shows new research, which also indicates that the reluctance to use those kidneys early in the pandemic appears to be waning.

"This cohort study found that the likelihood of nonuse of COVID-19–positive donor kidneys decreased over time and, for kidneys procured in 2023, donor COVID-19 positivity was no longer associated with higher odds of nonuse," write the authors in their study, published today in JAMA Network Open.

Senior author Tarek Alhamad, MD, noted that there are nevertheless still some holdouts.

"Despite…having zero cases of COVID-19 transmission through kidney transplantation, kidney transplant providers continue to discard these highly valuable organs," Alhamad, of the Division of Nephrology, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, told Medscape Medical News.

"Our study shows no increased risk of rejection and no increased risk of kidney failure with the use of kidneys from COVID-19–positive donors," Alhamad emphasized. Head over to Medscape to read the full story.