Catheter-Based Local Delivery of Therapeutics to the Lungs for Severe or Critically Ill Patients with COVID-19

• Main Authors: George Dangas, Christopher J. White, Nodar Kipshidze, Jawed Fareed, Patrick Iversen, Antonio Colombo, Nicholas Kipshidze
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: European Medical Journal 2021-02-01
• Series: European Medical Journal Innovations
• Subjects: acute respiratory distress syndrome (ards); catheter interventions; coronavirus disease (covid-19); local drug delivery; respiratory infections; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (sars-cov-2)
• Online Access: https://www.emjreviews.com/innovations/article/catheter-based-local-delivery-of-therapeutics-to-the-lungs-for-severe-or-critically-ill-patients-with-covid-19/

Currently, the majority of treatment strategies reported for coronavirus disease (COVID-19) involve the systemic administration of drugs, in addition to other approaches including convalescent plasma.1,2 The pathogenesis of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was believed to be largely localised in the lungs. Retrospective observational studies from Wuhan, China have shown subgroups of patients with symptoms affecting the cardiovascular, renal, nervous, and digestive systems.3,4 Yet the most critical cases largely encompass those suffering from acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Therefore, the authors propose a combination of local delivery of therapeutics directly to the lungs and adjunct systemic administration (i.e., intravenous infusion).