Pleural and Primary Mediastinal Complications and Treatment of COVID-19 Patients

Abstract

The persistent disease 2019 (COVID-19) presents prodigious challenges for research and medical research, mainly with specific epidemiological and clinical characteristics. Patients with COVID-19 pneumonia may have conditions ranging from clinical, and asymptomatic to death due to respiratory failure. COVID-19 pneumonia may be associated with pleural complications such as pneumothorax (PT), pneumomediastinum (PM), pleural effusion, and empyema. To investigate primary Pleural and Mediastinal Complications (PPMCs) and how to treat them in patients with COVID-19. In this cross-sectional study, 10,000 patients with COVID-19 were investigated for the incidence of mediastinal and pleural effusions between the beginning of the second half of 2019 and the end of the first half of 2019. In this study, the average age of patients with PPMCs was 54.29 ± 14.69. 62% (124 patients) were male and 38% (76 patients) were female. In this study, among 10.000 patients with Covid-19, 600 patients (6%) had pleural effusion, of which 456 (4.56%) had mild pleural effusion, and 144 (1.44%) had moderate to severe pleural effusion. Frequency of PPMCs in COVID-19 patients: 0.53% (53 cases) PT, 0.09% (9 cases) hemothorax, 0.06% (6 cases) empyema, 0.96% (96 cases) PM, 0.12% (12 cases) pericardial effusion, 0.17% ( 17 cases) of atelectasis, 0.04% (4 cases) of emphysema were reported. The most frequent pleural complication was pleural effusion, with a frequency of 6%, and the second rank of complications was related to PM, with a prevalence of 0.96%. Being elderly was strongly associated with the rate of intubation and mortality in the hospital (P<0.05). No significant relationship existed between patients' age and PPMCs (p>0.05). There was no significant difference between PPMC in men and women (p>0.05). The results of our study show that PPMC in patients with COVID-19 has a low prevalence, and if they do occur, the most frequent are related to pleural effusion and PM.