Clinical Features of 11 COVID-19 Patients with History of Thoracotomy: A Descriptive Study in Wuhan, China

Background: The COVID-19 is highly infectious and has the trend of global outbreak. Although COVID-19 virus attacks many organs, the main lesion is still in lung. Therefore, whether the patients who had the history of thoracotomy are supposed to have a bad outcome needs to be given high clinical attention. Method: The clinical information, laboratory examination and imaging examination data of 11 COVID-19 patients with history of thoracotomy were extracted and analyzed in Tongji Hospital of Wuhan, Hubei province. Results: 11 COVID-19 patients with a history of thoracotomy were all severe cases. The diagnosis was confirmed by chest CT and nucleic acid testing, and antiviral treatment mainly based on abidol, supplemented by Chinese traditional medicine Lianhuaqingwen. All patients were treated with antibiotics, and 1 patient also took prophylactic antifungal therapy. Finally, 3 patients died of respiratory failure, 7 patients recovered smoothly, and 1 patient was still under treatment. Conclusion: COVID-19 patients who had a history of thoracotomy often faced disease progression and the use of antibiotics should be more positive. For this kind of patients, there is no definitive treatment method, and multi-channel treatments may be effective. Funding Statement: No funding aid was provided for the compilation of this study. Declaration of Interests: The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Ethics Approval Statement: As a retrospective singlecenter analysis, the study was approved by the ethics committee of the Tongji Medical College of Huazhong University of Science and Technology and individual patient consent was signed.