ABSTRACT
Introduction: Organizing pneumonia due to COVID-19 (OP) has been described more frequently. The burden and most adequate therapeutical strategy are yet to be determined. Objetive: descriptive analysis of patients diagnosed with OP in an intensive care unit (ICU). Method(s): We reviewed all admissions in a polyvalent ICU in 2021 and selected those with the diagnosis of OP (established after review of thoracic computed-tomography images by a thoracic radiologist). Statistical analysis was performed with IBM SPSS Statistics 25. Discussion/results: There were 117 admissions because of acute respiratory failure due to COVID-19 (male=77.8%). OP diagnosis was made in 39 patients (pts). Mean age at diagnosis was 49.6 years old. Obesity was present in 46.2% and high blood pressure in 30.8%. The mean length of stay in the ICU was of 31.9 days however it was 11,4 days in pts without OP. Mortality rate was 25.6%. OP diagnosis was made about 22.7 days after COVID-19 diagnosis. Extracorporeal-membrane-oxygenation was needed in 27 pts (6 pts died) with runs ranging from 2 to 87 days. Only 6 pts did not receive initial dexamethasone for unknown reasons. Pts with hemodynamic compromise and severe ARF would receive 1g of methylprednisolone followed by 1 mg/kg/day. It was given to 27 pts and only 2 of these died (p<0.05);8 of those who started methylprednisolone with no pulse (n=12) died. Six months after, 3 pts still needed supplementary oxygen. Every patient described subjective idea of irretrievable quality-of-life. Conclusion(s): Pulse of methylprenisolone seems to reduce mortality in severe OP. When OP is present length of stay increases significantly which inevitably has more impact in quality of life.