Effective treatment with Tocilizumab in a COVID-19 patient on maintenance hemodialysis: A case report

Nourié, Nicole; Chamaa, Mohamed Ammar; Mouawad, Sarah; Kotait, Micheline Mia; Finianos, Serge; Azar, Hiba; Chelala, Dania

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a rapidly spreading infective disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 virus (SARS-CoV-2). The management of this disease remains a challenge particularly in certain subgroups of patients such in hemodialysis patients who have higher exposure rates due to the nature of their in-hospital care, and higher mortality due to their burden of comorbidities. We report a case of a 52-year-old patient with Von Hippel Lindau syndrome and end-stage renal disease on hemodialysis who contracted COVID-19 infection. Despite the patient’s rapidly deteriorating clinical status he was successfully treated with Tocilizumab, after which he showed rapid improvement in his clinical, biological and radiological parameters. Although few studies were available regarding the use of Tocilizumab in the dialysis population, its use proved to be effective and well tolerated in our patient.