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SARS: ventilatory and intensive care
Author(s) -
YAM Loretta YC,
CHEN Rong Chang,
ZHONG Nan Shan
Publication year - 2003
Publication title -
respirology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1440-1843
pISSN - 1323-7799
DOI - 10.1046/j.1440-1843.2003.00521.x
Subject(s) - medicine , intensive care , intensive care medicine , pneumothorax , mechanical ventilation , pneumomediastinum , isolation (microbiology) , pneumonia , respiratory system , respiratory failure , incidence (geometry) , covid-19 , emergency medicine , anesthesia , surgery , disease , infectious disease (medical specialty) , physics , optics , microbiology and biotechnology , biology
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) is an emerging infection caused by a novel coronavirus. It is characterised by a highly infectious syndrome of fever and respiratory symptoms, and is usually associated with bilateral lung infiltrates. The clinical syndrome of SARS often progresses to varying degrees of respiratory failure, with about 20% of patients requiring intensive care. Despite concern about potential aerosol generation, non‐invasive ventilation (NIV) has been reported to be efficacious in the treatment of SARS‐related ARF without posing infection risks to health care workers (HCW). Spontaneous pneumomediastinum and pneumothorax in SARS is common. The incidence of NIV‐associated barotrauma ranged from 6.6% to 15%. Patients who fail to tolerate NIV or fail NIV with progressive dyspnoea, tachypnoea and hypoxaemia should be intubated and mechanically ventilated. Mortality rates in intensive care units for SARS patients were high: 34–53% at 28 days, when some patients were still being ventilated. Strict adherence to infection control measures including isolation, use of appropriate personal protective equipment and negative pressure environment had been reported to eliminate cross‐infection to HCW.