1Department of Chinese Medicine, Taipei City Hospital, Ren-Ai Branch. Department of Health,
Taipei City Government, Taipei, Taiwan
2Institute of Traditional Medicine National, Yang-Ming Chiao-Tung University, Taipei, Taiwan
3General Education Center, University of Taipei, Taipei, Taiwan
【Summary】
A 78-year-old woman with no notable medical history came to Taipei City hospital Ren-Ai branch seeking medical treatment on 2021/06/09 due to symptoms of respiratory tract infection. She was diagnosed with COVID-19 and admitted to our coronavirus ward. 10 days after admission, the patient developed respiratory failure with low oxygen saturation levels and was promptly intubated and transferred to the intensive care unit. Antiviral agents, systemic corticosteroids and broad spectrum antibiotics were prescribed in accordance to available guidelines. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) was consulted at the request of the patient’s family members and treatment was initiated on 2021/06/21. The TCM principle of treatment included clearing heat and promoting diuresis, resolving dampness with aromatics, invigorating spleen and regulating stomach to facilitate qi-flowing. Due isolation requirements of COVID patients, the utilization of the four diagnostics methods of TCM were severely limited, so bloods exams and chest x-rays were crucial to guiding the prescription of TCM. TCM treatment was provided simultaneously with standard treatment of COVID-19 until 2021/07/07 for a total of 17 days. The patient was successfully extubated and transferred back to a normal ward on 2021/07/12. She was discharged on 2021/07/29 and has returned regularly to our chest medicine outpatient department for appointments ever since. Continuous follow up of the patient showed that she did not have any sequelae often seen in patients recovering from COVID-19. From this case, we demonstrated how early TCM intervention could help patients with severe COVID-19 infection. We illustrated how diagnostics tests including hemograms, biochemistries, chest x-rays and arterial blood gases could aid in the prescription of TCM for COVID-19 patients, as well as serve as parameters for observation of the therapeutic benefits. We hope this case could serve as a reference for similar patients enered during TCM consult in the future.
【Keywords】Coronavirus disease COVID-19; acute respiratory distress syndrome; respiratory failure; ventilator; traditional Chinese medicine
25S.15 極重度新冠肺炎之中醫會診病例報告
