Page 58 - Living-on-the-frontline-of-COVID-19-in-MCO-and-CMCO
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Case 5
This is a 73 years old man, former smoker with COVID-19 positive. He was
intubated for nine days with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). He
received treatment, extubated and was discharged home. However, he was
readmitted for breathless on exertion. He was warded for a few days and
transferred over to Institut Perubatan Respiratori (IPR) for further management.
Clinically, there was no finger clubbing. However, as for the lung, there was a
pronounced Velcro sound heard bi-basally. No pedal edema or no sign of heart
failure.
His lung function demonstrated a restrictive pattern of less than 80%. He did not
actually walk that far. That's why we could not demonstrate desaturation. He tried
to preserve his energy and only managed to walk up to 120 metres. His arterial
blood gas under room air result showed he didn’t require oxygen therapy, but it's
the breathlessness that is problematic to him.
