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RATIONALEProne positioning has been shown to have significant survival benefits in Adult Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS). There is little evidence in the literature assessing its effect on patients with Covid-19. With this in mind, we performed a retrospective study of patients receiving treatment with prone-position in the context of Covid-19, and have assessed its impact on efficiency of ventilation (dead space ratio), oxygenation (P/F ratio) and mortality. METHODS We included all patients admitted to our 18 bed ICU with either PCR-confirmed or clinically presumed diagnosis of Covid-19 pneumonia, who were under mechanical ventilation and completed two or more full proning cycles in the period 03/12/2020-04/12/2020. Demographic characteristics, data on mechanical ventilation, patient position, end tidal CO2 and arterial blood gas were obtained from patient charts. Pa/FiO2 ratios (P/F) were calculated as a marker of oxygenation and dead space fraction (Vd/Vt) to assess ventilation. RESULTS Twelve patients were studied. There was a statistically significant improvement in P/F ratio when prone compared to supine (Wilcoxon signed-rank Z=12, p 0.05). Over time, Vd/Vt increased in non-survivors (Rs=0.48, p |
