Differences In Lung Fluid Quality Between Decompensated Heart Failure Patients And Covid-19 Patients- Results Of The Impedance-corona Trial

Hospitalized COVID-19 patients commonly develop pulmonary complications and respiratory insufficiency. Prediction of respiratory deterioration in hospitalized COVID-19 patients is an unmet goal. To assess monitoring of lung fluid status of hospitalized COVID-19 patients to predict respiratory deterioration and prognosis. ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT04406493. Study population comprised 51 patients hospitalized in Hillel Yaffe Medical Center with COVID-19 infection. Patient lung fluid status was monitored by repeat measurements of the lung impedance (LI), a technique found to be very effective for monitoring and guiding treatment of heart failure patients. Decreasing LI reflects lung fluid accumulation. Clinical and laboratory parameters, chest X-ray and LI level were recorded during hospitalization. Of 51 patients hospitalized for COVID-19 infection (37- men and 14- women, 55.7±12.6 years-old), 46 were discharged alive after successful treatment and of these 27 returned for follow-up evaluation 3-6 months after discharge. In these patients’ admission LI was 72.6±18.4 Ohms (Figure 1) and discharge LI was 83.8±20.7 Ohms, which is 15% higher than the admission value (p< 0.04). LI at the follow up visit was surprisingly low (63.7±15 Ohms), or 31.6% lower than discharge value (p