RESULTS
Mean age of the patients was 59.6 (range, 56 to 73). Demographic data,
details of comorbid diseases and complications are shown in Table 1.
Route of transmission was determined as through hospital to a total of
10 (55.5%) patients (hospital employee, during admission to the
outpatient clinic or during a patient visit), while 5 (27.7%) patients
had COVID-19 patients diagnosed in their family. Most common signs and
symptoms when applying to the hospital was fever (n: 15, 83.3%),
fatigue (n: 14, 77.7%), muscle and joint pain (n: 14, 77.7%), dry
cough (n: 10, 55.5%), headache and throat pain (n: 8, 44.4%), sudden
loss of taste and smell (n: 4, 22.2%). Median time from the first
symptoms to the application was 5 (range, 2-10) days.
All patients had radiological imaging of lung (thorax computed
tomography (CT) and / or chest X-ray). Chest imaging examination showed
that 12 patients (66.6%) had ground-glass opacity. Figure 1 shows a
thorax CT of a 59-year-old patient (hospital worker). Impaired
laboratory tests was frequently observed at admission; lymphopenia (n:
12, 72.2%), high procalcitonin (n: 8, 44.4%), elevated lactate
dehydrogenase (n: 8, 44.4%), high C-reactive protein (CRP) (n: 7,
38.8%), D-dimer (n: 7, 38.8%) and Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (n:
7, 38.8%). All patients were isolated and treated in single rooms. All
cases were symptomatic but uncomplicated patients with mild / moderate
pneumonia. Oxygen therapy was administered to patients when saturation
decreased through nasal cannulation. As medical treatment, the standard
treatment algorithm (Hydroxychloroquine 2x200mg, Oseltamivir 75 mg
2x75mg, Azithromycin 1x250mg) recommended by our Ministry of Health for
this case group was applied. They also continued BPH treatments (alpha
blockers and/or five alpha-reductase inhibitors) during their follow-up.
None of the patients developed complications related to BPH during
follow-up. Mean PSA value was calculated as 2.4 ng/mL (range, 0.5-3.9
ng/mL).
During follow-up and treatment process, 2 (11.1%) patients were sent to
the intensive care unit (ICU) due to ARDS and acute cardiac injury. One
of these patients was a 73-year-old patient with multiple comorbidities
(hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes type 2), and severe
respiratory distress developed within hours, followed by ARDS and
multi-organ failure. This patient, who was intubated in ICU, passed away
after 72 hours. Treatment of a total of 16 patients was performed in the
service without being sent to ICU. It was determined that the patients
whose treatment were completed in the service were younger and had no
comorbid diseases or less, rather than the two patients who were sent to
ICU. Excessive ground-glass opacity and intensive consolidation was
observed in chest imagings of two patients (1 alive, 1 deceased) sent to
ICU. Again, during the follow-up of these patients, procalcitonin, ALT,
D-dimer, troponin and CRP values were higher than other patients. Mean
duration of collection of sputum / nasopharyngeal swab to the first
negative result was 8.4 days (range, 5-16 days). Mean duration of
hospital stay was 11.9 (range, 8-17) days.