ABSTRACT
Introduction: Some patients suffer from various multisystem symptoms even after active process of COVID-19 illness has settled lasting more than four weeks called as long COVID. Pulmonary rehabilitation therapy is the proposed option in those patients. This study aims to study the impact of pulmonary rehabilitation on outcome of long COVID patients through improvement in mMRC dyspnea scale, oxygen saturation, cough score, six-minute walk distance and biomarkers of inflammation. Materials and Methods: A retrospective observational study was carried out from the data of electronic medical records among 71 Long COVID patients. Parameters like Spo2, MMRC scale, cough score, six-minute walking distance along with blood levels of D-dimer, C-reactive protein (CRP), leucocyte count at the time of admission and after three weeks of pulmonary rehabilitation were collected. The outcome among the patients was divided into full recovery and partial recovery group. Statistical analysis was done using SPSS software version 19.0. Result: Among 71 cases in our study 60 (84.50%) where male with mean age was 52.7 ± 13.23 years. Biomarkers like CRP and d-Dimer were elevated in 68 (95.7%) and 48 (67.6%) patients, respectively, at the time of admission. After 3 weeks of pulmonary rehabilitation mean SPO2, cough score, 6MWD showed significant improvement and normalization of biomarkers in recovered group of 61 out of 71 which was statistically significant. Conclusion: Significant improvement of oxygen saturation, mMRC grade, cough score, six-minute walk distance and normalization of biomarkers were marked following pulmonary rehabilitation. Thus, pulmonary rehabilitation therapy should be offered to all long COVID cases.
ABSTRACT
Bronchopleural fistula (BPF) is an uncommon entity in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). It may arise due to various causes ranging from the disease itself to complications of treatment. If left untreated, it may increase the morbidity, hospital stay, and adversely affect the outcome. We hereby present a series of cases with a persistent pneumothorax and associated BPF due to varying etiologies. While three of our cases developed a pneumothorax while on non-invasive ventilation, other three were on oxygen therapy. One patient developed a spontaneous pyopneumothorax and septicemia and succumbed to the complications. Another patient on non-invasive ventilation died due to complications of pregnancy. The management of each case varied depending on their clinical presentation.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: COVID-19 pneumonia is complicated with residual lung fibrosis, as evidenced by imaging and postmortem pathological findings. In addition to steroids, we compared the efficacy of nintedanib and pirfenidone in the management of COVID-19 lung fibrosis measured by CT severity score (CTSS). METHODS: All cases of COVID-19 pneumonia diagnosed as COVID-19 positive by RT-PCR having SpO2 ⩽ 96% and CTSS ⩾ 10 even after 15 days were included in the study. The patients were divided into three groups. All three groups received steroids at a dose of 1 mg/kg body weight of prednisolone or equivalent. The first group received steroids alone, the second group received pirfenidone with steroids and the third group received nintedanib with steroids. All patients were followed up at 6 and 12 weeks. The primary endpoint of our study was to find out any improvement in CTSS. RESULTS: Out of 90 patients, 56 patients completed the study. Among three groups, 19 (33.9%) patients received steroids (control) only, 16 (28.6%) patients received steroids with pirfenidone and 21 (37.5%) patients received steroids with nintedanib. The study population had a mean (±SD) age of 52.5 ± 10.1 years, mean (±SD) C-reactive protein of 97.1 ± 102.2 mg/L (normal <6 mg/L), mean (±SD) serum ferritin 459.4 ± 305.5 ng/mL (normal <250 ng/mL), mean (±SD) serum d-dimer level 2.1 ± 2.6 µg/mL (normal <0.5 µg/mL) and mean (±SD) CTSS of 16.9 ± 4.3. There was significant improvement in CTSS in group receiving nintedanib compared to pirfenidone at 12 weeks (3.67 ± 1.21 vs 9.07 ± 1.12) with a p-value <0.01. CONCLUSION: Along with steroids in the treatment of COVID-19 lung fibrosis, there was a significant improvement in lung CTSS with nintedanib compared to pirfenidone.