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Background@#This study aimed to determine the parameters for worsening oxygenation in non-severe coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia. @*Methods@#This retrospective cohort study included cases of confirmed COVID-19 pneumonia in a public hospital in South Korea. The worsening oxygenation group was defined as that with SpO2 ≤94% or received oxygen or mechanical ventilation (MV) throughout the clinical course versus the non-worsening oxygenation group that did not experience any respiratory event. Parameters were compared, and the extent of viral pneumonia from an initial chest computed tomography (CT) was calculated using artificial intelligence (AI) and measured visually by a radiologist. @*Results@#We included 136 patients, with 32 (23.5%) patients in the worsening oxygenation group; of whom, two needed MV and one died. Initial vital signs and duration of symptoms showed no difference between the two groups; however, univariate logistic regression analysis revealed that a variety of parameters on admission were associated with an increased risk of a desaturation event. A subset of patients was studied to eliminate potential bias, that ferritin ≥280 μg/L (p=0.029), lactate dehydrogenase ≥240 U/L (p=0.029), pneumonia volume (p=0.021), and extent (p=0.030) by AI, and visual severity scores (p=0.042) were the predictive parameters for worsening oxygenation in a sex-, age-, and comorbid illness-matched case-control study using propensity score (n=52). @*Conclusion@#Our study suggests that initial CT evaluated by AI or visual severity scoring as well as serum markers of inflammation on admission are significantly associated with worsening oxygenation in this COVID-19 pneumonia cohort.
RESUMEN
Background@#A novel antiviral agent, remdesivir (RDV), is a promising candidate treatment for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in the absence of any proven therapy.Materials and @*Methods@#This retrospective case series included 10 patients with a clinically and laboratory confirmed diagnosis of severe COVID-19 pneumonia who had received RDV for 5 days (n = 5) or 10 days (n = 5) in the Phase III clinical trial of RDV (GS-US-540-5773) conducted by Gilead Sciences. The clinical and laboratory data for these patients were extracted. @*Results@#One patient in the 10-day group received RDV for only 5 days because of nausea and elevated liver transaminases. No patient had respiratory comorbidity. Seven patients had bilateral lesions and three had unilateral lesions on imaging. All patients had received other medications for COVID-19, including lopinavir/ritonavir and hydroxychloroquine, before administration of RDV. Five patients required supplemental oxygen and one required mechanical ventilation. All patients showed clinical and laboratory evidence of improvement.Half of the patients developed elevated liver transaminases and three had nausea. There were no adverse events exceeding grade 2. @*Conclusion@#Our experience indicates that RDV could be a therapeutic option for COVID-19.A well-designed randomized controlled clinical trial is now needed to confirm the efficacy of RDV in patients with COVID-19.