|
?:abstract
|
-
Current mortality rate in patients with COVID-19 disease is about 2%, whereas 5% of patients require admission to the intensive care unit It is assumed that interleukin (IL)-6 may be involved in the pathogenesis of severe COVID-19 infections;therefore, in the absence of a specific antiviral therapy, some authors have suggested that tocilizumab – a drug used to block the signal transduction pathway of IL-6 – could have beneficial effects in the management of severe COVID-19 disease However, mild-to-moderate elevation in transaminases and drug-induced liver injury have been observed in patients treated with tocilizumab We present seven cases of patients with elevated liver enzymes [up to five times the upper limit of normal (ULN)] at baseline who received tocilizumab for life-threatening COVID-19 disease All patients had no history of liver or pulmonary disease and were admitted for acute hypoxemic respiratory failure, dyspnea and fever due to COVID-19 bilateral pneumonia IL-6 was available in six patients, and was significantly increased particularly in those with severe impairment of lung function All patients received tocilizumab (8 mg/kg/day) for two consecutive days because of lack of improvement after hydroxychloroquine, azithromycin and lopinavir/ritonavir treatment After tocilizumab administration, clinical condition rapidly improved and liver function test normalized within 3 weeks of treatment Tocilizumab may be effective for the treatment of severe COVID-19 disease, even in patients with elevated liver function tests Further studies are needed to evaluate the impact of tocilizumab use on liver function tests in patients with pre-existing chronic liver disease
|
![[This page as RDF]](https://research.tib.eu/covid-19/static/rdf-icon.gif){kind=icon}