RESULTS
Mean age of the patients was 59.6 (range, 56 to 73). Demographic data, details of comorbid diseases and complications are shown in Table 1. Route of transmission was determined as through hospital to a total of 10 (55.5%) patients (hospital employee, during admission to the outpatient clinic or during a patient visit), while 5 (27.7%) patients had COVID-19 patients diagnosed in their family. Most common signs and symptoms when applying to the hospital was fever (n: 15, 83.3%), fatigue (n: 14, 77.7%), muscle and joint pain (n: 14, 77.7%), dry cough (n: 10, 55.5%), headache and throat pain (n: 8, 44.4%), sudden loss of taste and smell (n: 4, 22.2%). Median time from the first symptoms to the application was 5 (range, 2-10) days.
All patients had radiological imaging of lung (thorax computed tomography (CT) and / or chest X-ray). Chest imaging examination showed that 12 patients (66.6%) had ground-glass opacity. Figure 1 shows a thorax CT of a 59-year-old patient (hospital worker). Impaired laboratory tests was frequently observed at admission; lymphopenia (n: 12, 72.2%), high procalcitonin (n: 8, 44.4%), elevated lactate dehydrogenase (n: 8, 44.4%), high C-reactive protein (CRP) (n: 7, 38.8%), D-dimer (n: 7, 38.8%) and Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) (n: 7, 38.8%). All patients were isolated and treated in single rooms. All cases were symptomatic but uncomplicated patients with mild / moderate pneumonia. Oxygen therapy was administered to patients when saturation decreased through nasal cannulation. As medical treatment, the standard treatment algorithm (Hydroxychloroquine 2x200mg, Oseltamivir 75 mg 2x75mg, Azithromycin 1x250mg) recommended by our Ministry of Health for this case group was applied. They also continued BPH treatments (alpha blockers and/or five alpha-reductase inhibitors) during their follow-up. None of the patients developed complications related to BPH during follow-up. Mean PSA value was calculated as 2.4 ng/mL (range, 0.5-3.9 ng/mL).
During follow-up and treatment process, 2 (11.1%) patients were sent to the intensive care unit (ICU) due to ARDS and acute cardiac injury. One of these patients was a 73-year-old patient with multiple comorbidities (hypertension, hyperlipidemia and diabetes type 2), and severe respiratory distress developed within hours, followed by ARDS and multi-organ failure. This patient, who was intubated in ICU, passed away after 72 hours. Treatment of a total of 16 patients was performed in the service without being sent to ICU. It was determined that the patients whose treatment were completed in the service were younger and had no comorbid diseases or less, rather than the two patients who were sent to ICU. Excessive ground-glass opacity and intensive consolidation was observed in chest imagings of two patients (1 alive, 1 deceased) sent to ICU. Again, during the follow-up of these patients, procalcitonin, ALT, D-dimer, troponin and CRP values ​​were higher than other patients. Mean duration of collection of sputum / nasopharyngeal swab to the first negative result was 8.4 days (range, 5-16 days). Mean duration of hospital stay was 11.9 (range, 8-17) days.