Respiratory Distress in Postanesthesia Care Unit: First Presentation of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in a 17-Year-Old Girl: A Case Report

A A Pract. 2020 May;14(7):e01227. doi: 10.1213/XAA.0000000000001227.

Abstract

A 17-year-old healthy girl underwent an uneventful esthetic septorhinoplasty. She was easily extubated and transferred to the postanesthesia care unit (PACU) with oxygen saturation (SpO2) of 96%. About 30 minutes after arrival in the PACU, she developed dyspnea with SpO2 of 84% and promptly received oxygen with bilevel positive airway pressure in conjunction with low-dose corticosteroid. The subsequent chest computed tomography (CT) revealed bilateral patchy infiltrates similar to the radiologic findings of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19). Finally, a reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) of a pharyngeal specimen confirmed the diagnosis of COVID-19.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Airway Extubation
  • Betacoronavirus
  • COVID-19
  • COVID-19 Drug Treatment
  • COVID-19 Testing
  • Clinical Laboratory Techniques
  • Coronavirus / genetics
  • Coronavirus / isolation & purification*
  • Coronavirus Infections / diagnosis
  • Coronavirus Infections / diagnostic imaging*
  • Coronavirus Infections / drug therapy
  • Dyspnea / diagnostic imaging*
  • Dyspnea / etiology
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Hydroxychloroquine / administration & dosage
  • Hydroxychloroquine / therapeutic use
  • Lung / diagnostic imaging*
  • Oxygen / therapeutic use
  • Pandemics
  • Pharynx / virology
  • Pneumonia, Viral / diagnostic imaging*
  • Postoperative Care
  • Respiratory Distress Syndrome / complications*
  • Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Tomography, X-Ray Computed / methods*
  • Treatment Outcome

Substances

  • Hydroxychloroquine
  • Oxygen