1. Challenges of diagnosis of COVID-19 in trauma patients: A case series
- Author
-
Mansoor Masjedi, Masoomeh Zare, Sepideh Sefidbakht, Farid Zand, Hamid Reza Abbasi, Amir Roudgari, Shahram Paydar, Farnia Feiz, Seyed Hamed Jafari, Alireza Shakibafard, Hossein Abdolrahimzadeh Fard, and Golnar Sabetian
- Subjects
medicine.medical_specialty ,2019-20 coronavirus outbreak ,thoracic injuries ,Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) ,SARS-CoV-2 ,business.industry ,Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) ,COVID-19 ,X-ray CT scans ,Critical Care and Intensive Care Medicine ,030218 nuclear medicine & medical imaging ,03 medical and health sciences ,trauma ,0302 clinical medicine ,030220 oncology & carcinogenesis ,Emergency medicine ,Emergency Medicine ,Medicine ,Original Article ,Surgery ,business - Abstract
Background Diagnosis of COVID-19 can be challenging in trauma patients, especially those with chest trauma and lung contusion. Methods We present a case series of patients from February and March 2020 who were admitted to our trauma center at Rajaee Hospital Trauma Center, in Shiraz, Iran and had positive SARS-CoV-2 PCR test or chest CT scan suggestive of COVID-19 and were admitted to the specific ICU for COVID-19. Results Eight COVID-19 patients (6 male) with mean age of 40 (SD = 16.3) years old, were presented. All patients were cases of trauma injuries, with multiple injuries including chest trauma and lung contusion, admitted to our trauma center for management of their injuries, but they were diagnosed with COVID-19 as well. Two of them had coinfection of influenza type-B and SARS-CoV-2. All patients were treated for COVID-19 and three of them died; the rest were discharged from hospital. Conclusion Since PCR for SARS-CoV-2 is not always sensitive enough to confirm the cause of pneumonia, chest CT manifestations can be helpful, though, they are not always differentiable from lung contusion. Therefore, both the CT scan and the clinical and paraclinical presentation and course of improvement can be beneficial in diagnosing COVID-19 in the trauma setting.
- Published
- 2020