RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 One hundred eighteen days on a ventilator: a COVID-19 success story against all odds
JF BMJ Case Reports
JO BMJ Case Reports
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd
SP e239631
DO 10.1136/bcr-2020-239631
VO 14
IS 3
A1 Germaine Chia
A1 Hannah Barrett
A1 Parind Patel
A1 Sanooj Soni
YR 2021
UL http://casereports.bmj.com/content/14/3/e239631.abstract
AB Emerging data suggest that patients with certain comorbidities requiring intensive care unit (ICU) admission for COVID-19 have a poor prognosis. This report describes a case of a patient with multiple comorbidities who contracted COVID-19 pneumonitis but was successfully weaned off invasive mechanical ventilation after 118 days, despite his admission being complicated by recurrent septic episodes and requirement for advanced cardiovascular support and renal replacement therapy. Of note, our patient received three courses of steroids in total during his ICU stay,and current literature strongly supports the use of steroids in critically unwell patients with COVID-19. To the best of our knowledge, this is the longest reported ventilated time and intensive care/hospital stay for a surviving patient with COVID-19 and highlights the importance of allowing sufficient time for clinical interventions to take effect, even when the prognosis appears bleak.