ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic has a great impact on numberless aspects of our society. In our bronchoscopic lung volume reduction interventional program, we work with severe COPD patients on a daily basis. OBJECTIVES: We were interested in the prevalence and outcome of COVID-19, impact of the pandemic on daily life, and the vaccination coverage in our severe COPD patients who have been treated with one-way endobronchial valves. METHOD: A questionnaire, which consisted of questions related to the infection rate, treatment, and outcome of COVID-19 infections; feelings of anxiety related to the pandemic; adherence to preventive measures; and willingness to be vaccinated; was sent to our patients in June 2021. RESULTS: The questionnaire was sent to 215 patients, and the response rate was 100%. The vaccination rate was 97% in our surveyed population. The majority of patients (63%) indicated that they were quite or very anxious to get infected with COVID-19. Twenty-five (11.5%) patients were diagnosed with COVID-19, with none of these patients having been vaccinated at the time of infection. The infection rate reported in this study is comparable to that of the general Dutch population. However, the hospital admission rate and mortality rates are higher. CONCLUSIONS: Our results show that the SARS-CoV-2 infection rate in severe COPD patients treated with endobronchial valves was comparable with the general population; however, the hospital admission and mortality rates were worse.
Subject(s)
COVID-19 , Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive , Humans , Pneumonectomy/methods , Prevalence , Pandemics , Bronchoscopy/methods , SARS-CoV-2 , Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive/epidemiology , Pulmonary Disease, Chronic Obstructive/surgeryABSTRACT
Coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia is one of the severe and most dreaded forms of illness caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. It often progresses to respiratory failure and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) requiring mechanical ventilation. ARDS can lead to multiple complications while on mechanical ventilation due to positive airway pressures in a fibrotic lung, one such complication is the development of alveolopleural fistula. Alveolopleural fistula has high morbidity and mortality. We used endobronchial valve in a patient with COVID-19-related ARDS with persistent air leak (alveolopleural fistula), which allowed us to remove the chest tube and wean the patient successfully off mechanical ventilation.