Massachusetts (USA): At a time when the world is grappling with the coronavirus crisis, clinicians from two hospitals in Boston report that the majority of even the sickest patients with COVID-19 - those who require ventilators in intensive care units - get better when they receive existing guideline-supported treatment for respiratory failure.
The clinicians from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center discussed COVID-19 patients who are serious to a level that they require ventilators.
The study was published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, hospitals around the world have shared anecdotal experiences to help inform the care of affected patients, but such anecdotes do not always reveal the best treatment strategies, and they can even lead to harm.
To provide more reliable information, a team led by C Corey Hardin, MD, PhD, an Assistant Professor of Medicine at MGH and Harvard Medical School, carefully examined the records of 66 critically ill patients with COVID-19 who experienced respiratory failure and were put on ventilators, making note of their responses to the care they received.
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The investigators found that the most severe cases of COVID-19 result in a syndrome called Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS), a life-threatening lung condition that can be caused by a wide range of pathogens.
