COVID-19 : Transcutaneous pO2 and pCO2 as Predictive Factors for Acute Respiratory Destress Syndrome in Patients Affected With SARS-Cov-2

The first case of a person infected with SARS-Cov-2 virus can be tracked back on November the 17th, 2019, in China. On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 outbreak a pandemic. On April 13, COVID-19 is affecting 210 countries and territories worldwide, about 2 million positive cases have been officially declared along with 115.000 deaths. The real number of infected and deaths is scarily higher, considering that up to 65% people are asymptomatic and thus, not tested.

The percentage of patients with COVID-19 needed for intensive care unit (ICU) varied from 5 to 32% in Wuhan, China. It was up to 9% in Lombardy, Italy. According to available data from Lombardy, 99% of patients admitted to the ICU needed respiratory support (88% invasive ventilation, 11% non invasive ventilation).

The aim of the present investigation is to test the hypothesis whether transcutaneous partial O2 and CO2 pressures may be reliable predictive factors for acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) development in hospitalized clinically stable COVID-19 positive patients and to clarify the role of the Angiotensin Converting Enzyme 2 (ACE2) and its final product, angiotensin 2 (Ang II) in the pathogenesis of this systemic disease.

We also aim to test the hypothesis that plasma concentration of Clara Cell protein (CC16) and surfactant protein D (SPD), which are a biomarkers of acute lung injury, are severely decreased in COVID-19 positive patients and the plasma concentration is related to the severity of lung injury.