COVID-19 presenting with diarrhea in a heart transplant patient

Mehmet Emirhan Işık

doi:10.5606/tgkdc.dergisi.2021.20420

Mehmet Emirhan Işık¹, Deniz Günay², Mehmet Aksüt², Şirin Menekşe¹, Yeşim Uygun-Kızmaz¹, Mehmet Kaan Kırali²

¹Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Microbiology, Koşuyolu Yüksek Ihtisas Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey
²Department of Cardiovascular Surgery, Koşuyolu Yüksek Ihtisas Training and Research Hospital, Istanbul, Turkey

DOI : 10.5606/tgkdc.dergisi.2021.20420

A 55-year-old man who underwent bicaval orthotopic heart transplantation nine months earlier presented with complaints of diarrhea and oliguria. Laboratory findings showed pancytopenia and an elevated creatinine level. Cyclosporine and mycophenolate mofetil were discontinued, and the patient received only everolimus. As he was immunosuppressed and had atypical symptoms during the COVID-19 pandemic, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction testing was performed, which yielded a positive result. Treatment with hydroxychloroquine and favipiravir were initiated. Although the patient suffered from acute renal failure, his condition showed an improvement after hydration plus a five-day antiviral treatment and, then, treatment was stopped. His COVID-19 test was negative after 10 days of follow-up and treatment, and he was discharged with cyclosporin and mycophenolate mofetil.

Keywords : COVID-19, diarrhea, favipiravir, hydroxychloroquine

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