ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: There is no pharmacological intervention on the treatment of hypoxemia and respiratory distress in COVID-19 patients. OBJECTIVE: The objective of the study was to study the effect of the reduced form of methylene blue (MB) on the improvement of oxygen saturation (SpO2) and respiratory rate (RR). METHODS: In an academic medical center, 80 hospitalized patients with severe COVID-19 were randomly assigned to receive either oral MB along with standard of care (SOC) (MB group, n = 40) or SOC only (SOC group, n=40). The primary outcomes were SpO2 and RR on the 3rd and 5th days. The secondary outcomes were hospital stay and mortality within 28 days. RESULTS: In the MB group, a significant improvement in SpO2 and RR was observed on the 3rd day (for both, p < 0.0001) and also the 5th day (for both, p < 0.0001). In the SOC group, there was no significant improvement in SpO2 (p = 0.24) and RR (p = 0.20) on the 3rd day, although there was a significant improvement of SpO2 (p = 0.002) and RR (p = 0.01) on the 5th day. In the MB group in comparison to the SOC group, the rate ratio of increased SpO2 was 13.5 and 2.1 times on the 3rd and 5th days, respectively. In the MB group compared with the SOC group, the rate ratio of RR improvement was 10.1 and 3.7 times on the 3rd and 5th days, respectively. The hospital stay was significantly shortened in the MB group (p = 0.004), and the mortality was 12.5% and 22.5% in the MB and SOC groups, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: The addition of MB to the treatment protocols significantly improved SpO2 and respiratory distress in COVID-19 patients, which resulted in decreased hospital stay and mortality. ClinicalTrials.gov: NCT04370288.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 Drug Treatment , Methylene Blue/therapeutic use , Adult , Aged , Female , Hospitalization , Humans , Male , Middle AgedABSTRACT
The severe acute respiratory syndrome caused by COVID-19 is now a global catastrophic event. Currently there is no approved drug or vaccine for the disease. Methylene blue (MB, oxidized form, blue color) has been used in many different areas of clinical medicine, ranging from malaria to orthopedics. Leucomethylene Blue (reduced form of MB, colorless) may be applied for the treatment of COVID-19 according to the scientific evidences. In severe patients, there is a cytokine storm (hyperinflammation) and high oxidative stress (OS). Inflammation and OS has a mutual correlation and exacerbate each other. In human body, MB first induces OS through absorbing electron (like a free radical) from other molecules, if the body could counteract to this OS, then reduced MB decreases OS through other mechanisms. Reduced MB could prevent inflammation, propagation of the virus RNA, and also improves hypoxia through reducing methemoglobin. Therefore, to avoid the increment of OS, we suggest using Leucomethylene Blue through the following protocol: The IV cocktail contains 50 mg MB (1mg/kg, 50-kg weight), 1000-2000 mg vitamin C, 500-1000 mg N-Acetylcysteine (or glutathione or cysteine or α-lipoic acid) and 10-20 gr urea (optional) in 100 ml dextrose 5%. Before the injection, the cocktail should be kept in a dark place for 1-2 hour to become fade or colorless.