Study on effect of COVID-19 convalescent plasma therapy on inflammatory parameters in COVID-19 patients

Abstract

Context: The coronavirus has threatened mankind and has brought everything to a standstill. The treatment of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) remains elusive to the medical fraternity, trials are going on to search for an effective therapy. The CCP (COVID convalescent plasma) therapy is being tried in many institutes for reducing mortality. Aim: To establish the clinical usage of CCP in hospitalized COVID-19 positive patients with decreased oxygen saturation levels. Settings and Design: This is a retrospective study done at L. N. Medical College and Research Centre, Bhopal. Material and Methods: Cases were selected from the COVID-19 facility ICU from September 2020 to March 2021. Patients with RT-PCR confirmed COVID-19 illness; PaO2/FiO2 < 300 or Respiratory Rate > 24/min and SO2 < 93% on room air; who were administered CCP therapy. Five inflammatory parameters were selected and were recorded before and 48 hours after administration of CCP therapy. Descriptive analysis and paired t-test were done to analyze the data with SPSS software. Result: Of the five parameters studied four parameters were found to be statistically correlated, except TLC; while on paired sample test, no parameter had a valid significance. Conclusion: CCP therapy in patients may not help in improving the clinical outcome. Howsoever, the different clinical morbidities and more so the dramatic behavior of SARS-CoV-2 poses a great difficulty in coming to a concrete conclusion.