Abstract
Severe coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is characterized by an excessive proinflammatory cytokine storm, resulting in acute lung injury and development of acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). The role of corticosteroids is controversial in severe COVID-19 pneumonia and associated hyper-inflammatory syndrome. We reported a case series of six consecutive COVID-19 patients with severe pneumonia, ARDS and laboratory indices of hyper-inflammatory syndrome. All patients were treated early with a short course of corticosteroids, and clinical outcomes were compared before and after corticosteroids administration. All patients evaded intubation and intensive care admission, ARDS resolved within 11.8 days (median), viral clearance was achieved in four patients within 17.2 days (median), and all patients were discharged from the hospital in 16.8 days (median). Early administration of short course corticosteroids improves clinical outcome of patients with severe COVID-19 pneumonia and evidence of immune hyperreactivity.
Keywords: ARDS; COVID-19; corticosteroids; cytokine storm; hyper-inflammatory syndrome.
【저자키워드】 COVID-19, ARDS, Cytokine storm, Corticosteroids, hyper-inflammatory syndrome., 【초록키워드】 Corticosteroid, coronavirus disease, Severe COVID-19 pneumonia, intensive care, hospital, intubation, cytokine, viral clearance, immune, acute lung injury, Laboratory, Clinical outcome, Patient, severe pneumonia, Admission, acute respiratory distress, Evidence, administration, COVID-19 patient, Proinflammatory cytokine, syndrome, Hyperreactivity, IMPROVE, Course, resulting, reported, case sery, median, characterized, treated, discharged, resolved, 【제목키워드】 severe COVID-19, steroid, Can,