Clinical characteristics of lung cancer patients with COVID-19: Retrospective case series.

INTRODUCTION: One of the patient groups adversely affected during the COVID19 pandemic is those suffering with cancer. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical characteristics and outcomes of lung cancer (LC) patients with COVID-19. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Three thousand seven-hundred and fifty hospitalized patients with a presumptive diagnosis of COVID-19 in a tertiary referral hospital between March 2020-February 2021 were retrospectively evaluated. Among them, 36 hospitalized COVID-19 patients with a history of primary LC were included in the study. Univariate and multivariate analyses were carried out to assess the risk factors associated with severe disease. RESULT: Of the 36 patients included in the study, 28 (77%) were males and 8 (23%) were females. Median age was 67 years (min-max: 53-81 years). Six patients (17%) had a diagnosis of small cell LC, whereas 30 patients (83%) had a diagnosis of non-small cell LC. The most common symptoms were fever (n= 28, 77%), coughing and myalgia (n= 21, 58%) and dyspnea (n= 18, 50%). The most common radiological finding was ground glass opacity (GGO) (n= 30), of which 13 was bilateral and 17 was unilateral in distribution. Nearly 30% (n= 11) of LC patients with COVID-19 developed severe disease, 5% (n= 2) of the 36 patients were admitted to intensive care unit and all of these patients eventually expired. LC patients with COVID-19 and patchy consolidation on computed tomography of thorax (Th CT) on admission had a higher risk of developing severe disease in univariate (HR 2.41, 95%CI: 1.4- 4.4, p= 0.04) and multivariate Cox regression analysis (HR 0.48, 95%CI: 0.24-0.97, p= 0.03). CONCLUSIONS: Clinical characteristics, laboratory and radiographic findings were similar in LC patients with COVID-19 when compared with the general population, LC patients have a higher mortality rate than the general population, with a 5% mortality rate in our series. Our findings suggest that LC may be a risk factor associated with the prognosis of COVID-19 patients.

The management of postoperative COVID-19 pneumonia in a case with right pneumonectomy.

A 61-year-old male patient was hospitalized for the evaluation of a lung mass. The patient underwent right pneumonectomy. Although reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction tests were negative for COVID-19, the diagnosis was supported by thoracic computed tomography. The patient responded to COVID-19 treatment, as evidenced by thoracic computed tomography. This case report highlights the importance of prompt diagnosis and treatment of COVID-19 in a patient who underwent pneumonectomy, which has high mortality and morbidity rates.

COVID-19 pneumonia and pneumothorax: case series.

Barotrauma is a commonly reported complication in critically ill patients with ARDS caused by different etiologies, it's rate is reported to be around %10. Pneumothorax/pneumomediastinum in COVID-19 patients seem to be more common and have different clinical characteristics. Here we report 9 patients who had pneumothorax and/or pneumomediastinum during their stay in the ICU. Patients who were admitted to ICU between March 2020 and December 2020, were reviewed for presence of pneumothorax, pneumomediastinum and subcutaneous emphysema during their ICU stay. Demographic characteristics, mechanical ventilation settings, documented ventilation parameters, outcomes were studied. A total of 161 patients were admitted to ICU during the study period, 96 were invasively ventilated. Nine patients had developed pneumothorax, pneumomediastinum and/or subcutaneous emphysema during their admission. Five of them were men and median age was 66.6 years. All patients were intubated and mechanically ventilated. All patients were managed conservatively. One patient was discharged from ICU, the others were lost due to other complications related to COVID-19. Upon detection of pneumothorax and/or mediastinum all patients were managed conservatively by limiting their PEEP and maximum inspiratory pressures and were followed by daily chest X-rays (CXR) for detection of any progress. None of the patients showed increase in size of their pneumothorax and/or pneumomediastinum. Hemodynamically instability due to pneumothorax and/or pneumomediastinum was not observed in any of the patients. Tension pneumothorax was not observed in any of the patients. Most common reason for death was sepsis due to secondary bacterial infections. Acute deterioration with rapid oxygen desaturation or palpation of crepitation over thorax and neck in a COVID-19 patient should prompt a search for pneumothorax or pneumomediastinum. Conservative management may be an option as long as the patients are stable.