Case Series on Barotrauma in COVID-19 Infection Patients

Abstract

As COVID-19 emerged in the world, there was a high prevalence of intubation and intensive care admissions. Many cases of barotrauma were reported in those patients. This condition is caused by alveoli rupture, which causes the air to enter the surrounding extra-alveolar spaces. It mainly happens in intubated patients. Here, we report 14 cases of barotrauma in COVID-19 patients, which appeared either spontaneously or after receiving non-invasive ventilation, some of the patients presented initially with mild-moderate forms of the disease in terms of severity. Developing barotrauma causes a management challenge in COVID-19 patients, where the patients might require invasive mechanical ventilation afterwards, which is a difficult situation. Lung protective measures should be used to reduce the risk of barotrauma in all patients as it is associated with increased mortality.

Keywords

• barotrauma
• pneumothorax
• pneumopericardium
• subcutaneous emphysema
• covid-19
• sars-cov-2