OBJECTIVE: To report the first eight cases of critically ill patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Hong Kong, describing the treatments and supportive care they received and their 28-day outcomes. DESIGN: Multicentre retrospective observational cohort study. SETTING: Three multidisciplinary intensive care units (ICUs) in Hong Kong. PARTICIPANTS: All adult critically ill patients with confirmed COVID-19 admitted to ICUs in Hong Kong between 22 January and 11 February 2020. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: 28-day mortality. RESULTS: Eight out of 49 patients with COVID-19 (16%) were admitted to Hong Kong ICUs during the study period. The median age was 64.5 years (range, 42–70) with a median admission Sequential Organ Failure Assessment (SOFA) score of 6 (IQR, 4–7). Six patients (75%) required mechanical ventilation, six patients (75%) required vasopressors and two (25%) required renal replacement therapy. None of the patients required prone ventilation, nitric oxide or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation. The median times to shock reversal and extubation were 9 and 11 days respectively. At 28 days, one patient (12%) had died and the remaining seven (88%) all survived to ICU discharge. Only one of the survivors (14%) still required oxygen at 28 days. CONCLUSION: Critically ill patients with COVID-19 often require a moderate duration of mechanical ventilation and vasopressor support. Most of these patients recover and survive to ICU discharge with supportive care using lung protective ventilation strategies, avoiding excess fluids, screening and treating bacterial co-infection, and timely intubation. Lower rather than upper respiratory tract viral burden correlates with clinical severity of illness.

Background To compare the outcomes of patients requiring extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) support who had a restrictive transfusion strategy with those who had a liberal strategy. Study Design and Methods We retrospectively reviewed all adult patients from 2010 to 2019 who received a minimum of one packed red blood cell (pRBC) during ECMO. Hemoglobin values before each transfusion were retrieved. Restrictive transfusion strategy was defined as a transfusion threshold ≤8.5 g/dl in all transfusion episodes for a single patient, while liberal transfusion strategy was defined as a transfusion threshold >8.5 g/dl in any transfusion episode. Results The analysis included 763 patients, with 138 (18.1%) patients in the restrictive and 625 (81.9%) in the liberal transfusion strategy group. The median hemoglobin level, taking into account all measured hemoglobin values, during ECMO support was 8.3 and 9.9 g/dl, and the average units of pRBC received per day were 0.7 (0.3–1.8) and 1.2 (0.6–2.3), respectively. There were no significant differences in intensive care unit (ICU) mortality (adjusted odds ratio (OR), 0.86; 95% CI 0.56–1.30; p = .47), hospital mortality (adjusted OR, 0.79; 95% CI 0.52–1.21; p = .28), and 90‐day mortality (adjusted OR, 0.84; 95% CI 0.55–1.28; p = .42) between the two groups. Among subgroup analyses, a restrictive transfusion strategy was associated with decreased risk of ICU mortality in patients on veno‐venous ECMO (adjusted OR, 0.36; 95% CI 0.17–0.73; p = .005). There was no heterogeneity on outcomes across patients stratified by age, APACHE IV score, or need for large volume transfusion. Discussion Our data suggested it may be safe to adopt a restrictive red cell transfusion threshold of 8.5 g/dl in patients on ECMO, and highlighted the need for prospective trials in this heavily‐transfused population.

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