ABSTRACT
A patient was admitted for chest pain with electrocardiographic changes, and cardiac magnetic resonance showed focal myocardial hypertrophy secondary to edema. Combined positron emission tomography and computed tomography corroborated foci of myocardial hypermetabolism, as well as multiple adenopathies consistent with lymphoma in the biopsy. Hypertrophy and edema regressed with chemotherapy.
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE: Early detection of patients with COVID-19 who will need mechanical invasive ventilation (MIV) may aid in delivering proper care and optimizing the use of limited resources. METHODS: In this single-center retrospective observational study, we aimed to identify simple laboratory parameters that in combination with ferritin (a surrogate marker of severe inflammation) may help predict early (first 48 hours) MIV. A total of 160 patients with COVID-19 in whom serum ferritin, absolute lymphocyte count (ALC), platelet count, C-reactive protein (CRP), and lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) had been analyzed at admission were included. RESULTS: We found that ferritin, LDH, ALC, and CRP predicted with 88% accuracy the probability of early MIV. Results indicated that LDH showed the greater area under the curve (AUC), with a value of 89.1%. Using the AUC, we established cutoff values for clinical application. Finally, we developed a classification tree based on LDH for its clinical use. CONCLUSION: Ferritin, LDH, ALC, and CRP predict with 88% accuracy the probability of early MIV.