RESUMO

CASE PRESENTATION: A 62-year-old White man with a history of orthotopic liver transplantation 16 years ago for alcoholic liver cirrhosis on chronic immunosuppression and recurrent decompensated cirrhosis of his graft liver complicated by ascites, hepatic encephalopathy, and esophageal varices presented to the hospital with altered mental status. Over the last few weeks, he had reduced frequency of bowel movements and subsequently developed altered sensorium 3 days before presentation. On arrival to the hospital, he was disoriented and had asterixis consistent with hepatic encephalopathy. He was not in respiratory distress, he was saturating well on room air, and his lungs were clear to auscultation bilaterally. Plain chest radiograph showed multiple ill-defined bilateral airspace opacities. A CT scan of the abdomen and pelvis done on admission incidentally showed bilateral pulmonary nodules with surrounding ground-glass halo in the lower lung zones. Given these findings, a dedicated CT scan of his chest was performed that showed numerous bilateral randomly distributed nodular airspace opacities, many with a central solid component and surrounding ground-glass halo. Antifungal therapy was initiated empirically. Serum aspergillus antigen and 1,3 beta D-glucan were negative. He subsequently underwent a bronchoscopy with BAL and transbronchial biopsy. BAL fluid was negative for bacterial, fungal, and acid-fast bacilli cultures. Pathology from the transbronchial biopsy showed atypical epithelioid cells in intravascular spaces.

Assuntos

Encefalopatia Hepática , Antifúngicos/uso terapêutico , Glucanos , Humanos , Masculino , Pessoa de Meia-Idade , Tórax , Tomografia Computadorizada por Raios X

RESUMO

In critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019, there has been considerable debate about when to intubate patients with acute respiratory failure. Early expert recommendations supported early intubation. However, as we learned more about this disease, the risks versus benefits of early intubation are less clear. We report our findings from an observational study aimed to compare the difference in outcomes of critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 who were intubated early versus later in the disease course. Early need for intubation was defined as intubation either at admission or within 2 days of having a documented Fio2 greater than or equal to 0.5. In the final sample of 111 patients, 76 (68%) required early intubation. The mean age among those who received early intubation was significantly higher (69.79 ± 12.15 vs 65.03 ± 8.37 years; p = 0.038). Also, the patients who required early intubation had significantly higher Sequential Organ Failure Assessment scores at admission (6.51 vs 3.48; p ≤ 0.0001). The outcomes were equivocal among both groups. In conclusion, we suggest that the timing of intubation has no impact on clinical outcomes among patients with coronavirus disease 2019 pneumonia.