Early Amiodarone Use in A Patient With COVID-19 Pneumonia |Biomedgrid

Coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) has caused a global pandemic since its emergence in late 2019. Most cases cause a mild self-limiting disease, but it can also lead to a variety of organ failure and most notably respiratory failure. To date there is no clinically proven treatment for COVID-19 infection. Amiodarone was shown to have in-vitro activity against Filovirus species with potential antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2. The current case describes the clinical response after starting amiodarone in critically ill COVID-19 patient with multi organ failure. Here we present a case of a 66-years old male who developed acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) secondary to COVID-19 infection requiring mechanical ventilation, renal failure requiring renal replacement therapy, and significant encephalopathy He was started on amiodarone to control his atrial fibrillation and we noticed significant drop in his oxygen requirements afterwards resulting in early liberation from the ventilator. Our patient had a measurable clinical improvement after starting amiodarone and he was liberated from the ventilator within less than 48 hours which is atypical for COVID-19 induced ARDS. We here present our observation in an attempt to explore the potential role of amiodarone in management of COVID-19 infection especially if introduced early in the course of the disease.