Initial Experience of Critically Ill Patients with COVID-19 in Western India: A Case Series

BACKGROUND: The novel coronavirus, named SARS-CoV-2, was first described in December 2019 as a cluster of pneumonia cases in Wuhan, China. It has since been declared a pandemic, with substantial mortality. MATERIALS AND METHODS: In our case series, we describe the clinical presentation, characteristics, and outcomes of our initial experience of managing 24 critically ill COVID-19 patients at a designated COVID-19 ICU in Western India. RESULTS: Median age of the patients was 54 years, and 58% were males. All patients presented with moderate to severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS); however, only 37.5% failed trials of awake proning and required mechanical ventilation. Patients who received mechanical ventilation typically matched the H-phenotype of COVID-19 pneumonia, and 55.5% of these patients were successfully extubated. CONCLUSION: The most common reason for ICU admission in our series of 24 patients with severe COVID-19 was hypoxemic respiratory failure, which responded well to conservative measures such as awake proning and oxygen supplementation. Mortality in our case series was 16.7%. HOW TO CITE THIS ARTICLE: Shukla U, Chavali S, Mukta P, Mapari A, Vyas A. Initial Experience of Critically Ill Patients with COVID-19 in Western India: A Case Series. Indian J Crit Care Med 2020;24(7):509–513.