Gastrointestinal perforation in a critically ill patient with COVID-19 pneumonia.
Aaron W Kangas-DickChristopher PrienKristin RojasQinghua PuMohammad HamshowElias WanKabu ChawlaOry WieselPublished in: SAGE open medical case reports (2020)
Gastrointestinal complications in critically ill patients during the COVID-19 pandemic pose a diagnostic and treatment dilemma. We present a case of a 74-year-old male who was brought to our emergency department with worsening shortness of breath, fever, and dry cough and was found to have COVID-19 pneumonia. Early in his hospital course, he was admitted to the intensive care unit, and was found to have significant abdominal distension with large amounts of simple fluid on bedside ultrasound. Bedside paracentesis returned succus and enteric feeds, and a methylene blue test confirmed a likely gastrointestinal perforation. The patients' family refused surgical intervention and the patient underwent bedside drainage. This case represents several critical dilemmas clinicians faced during the recent surge of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Keyphrases
- emergency department
- coronavirus disease
- sars cov
- end stage renal disease
- case report
- ejection fraction
- randomized controlled trial
- chronic kidney disease
- newly diagnosed
- magnetic resonance imaging
- healthcare
- ultrasound guided
- prognostic factors
- risk factors
- palliative care
- intensive care unit
- respiratory syndrome coronavirus
- combination therapy
- patient reported
- smoking cessation