THE BENEFICIAL EFFECT OF A MOUTHWASH CONTAINING A PHTHALOCYANINE DERIVATIVE IN PATIENTS HOSPITALIZED WITH COVID-19

OBJECTIVES: To evaluate the clinical outcome, such as length of hospital stay (LOS), need for referral to the intensive care unit (ICU), and number of deaths of patients with COVID-19 with the use of a mouthwash containing a phthalocyanine derivative. STUDY DESIGN: A randomized triple-blind clinical trial in which a total of 41 hospitalized patients with COVID-19 were followed up. Patients were divided into 2 groups and both received a mouthwash containing active (AM) and nonactive (NAM) ingredients. They were instructed to use mouthwash and gargle for 1 minute 5 times a day and continue using the solution until discharge. RESULTS: The median LOS of the AM group was significantly shortened (4 days) compared with the NAM group (7 days; P = .0314). Additionally, gargling/rinsing with anionic phthalocyanine derivative was very helpful in reducing the severity of symptoms (no ICU care was needed) compared to not gargling/rinsing with APD (28.6% of patients in the NAM group needed ICU care, and 50% of this ICU subgroup died; P = .0207). CONCLUSIONS: This study showed that the action of the mouthwash containing phthalocyanine derivatives had effects against SARS-CoV-2 and can reduce the symptoms of patients and reduce the length of hospital stay.