Tocilizumab administration in a refractory case of COVID-19

Dastan, Farzaneh; Nadji, Seyed Alireza; Saffaei, Ali; Tabarsi, Payam

Novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pneumonia as a pandemic disease leads to acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), acute cardiac injury, multi organ failure, and shock. In the absence of specific treatment for COVID-19, there is an urgent need to find the alternative treatments to manage this pandemic. Pathophysiological studies have demonstrated the role of inflammatory mediators in COVID-19 pneumonia. It appears that imbalances between inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines are the probable underlying mechanism. Since, there is no specific treatment for the inflammatory phase of COVID-19 pneumonia, consideration of treatments, such as tocilizumab, as salvage therapy is necessary. Here, we reported a challenging case of COVID-19 who was successfully treated with tocilizumab.