Use of Tocilizumab May Avoid the Need of Invasive Ventilation

Anurag Adhikari; Ayusha Poudel; Oshna Pandey; Barun B Aryal; Bibek Dhungana

doi:10.7759/cureus.17822

Use of Tocilizumab May Avoid the Need of Invasive Ventilation

Cureus. 2021 Sep 8;13(9):e17822. doi: 10.7759/cureus.17822. eCollection 2021 Sep.

Authors

Anurag Adhikari¹, Ayusha Poudel¹, Oshna Pandey², Barun B Aryal³, Bibek Dhungana⁴

Affiliations

¹ Intensive Care Unit, Nepal Korea Friendship Municipality Hospital, Madhyapur Thimi, NPL.
² School of Medicine, Patan Academy of Health Sciences, Kathmandu, NPL.
³ Emergency Medicine, BP Smriti Hospital, Kathmandu, NPL.
⁴ Internal Medicine, KIST Medical College, Lalitpur, NPL.

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is an illness caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). Increased pro-inflammatory cytokines including interleukin 6 (IL-6) are associated with severe forms of illnesses. The severe cases of COVID-19 require a high amount of oxygen supplementation and might even require endotracheal intubation with ventilator support. A blockade of inflammatory cascade with the use of tocilizumab has been shown to decrease the need for intubation and ventilator requirement.

Keywords: covid-19; cytokines; sars-cov-2; tocilizumab; ventilation.

Publication types

Case Reports