Imaging and Laboratory Findings
Baseline auscultation revealed abnormal chest in 14 (74%) of cases; 12
(63%) had bilateral rales or crepitations while two (11%) had
bilateral wheezes. Radiologically, 15 patients (79%) had abnormal chest
X-rays: 13 with bilateral chest infiltrates and 2 with unilateral
infiltrates.
Median total leucocytes count was equal in patients who required
O2 supplementation (n=11, 58%) to those who did not
require O2. Besides, mdian glomerular filtration rate
was 62 mL/min/1.73 m2. Serum urea, creatinine, AST,
ALT, and total bilirubin revealed normal to elevated values; 39 mg/dL
(12-129 mg/dL) and 1 mg/dL (0.6-2.2 mg/dL), 24 U/L (9-117 U/L), 50 U/L
(16-147 U/L), and 0.5 mg/dL (0.2-1.6 mg/dL), respectively. The same
pattern was observed for procalcitonin 0.12 ng/mL (0.02-0.64 ng/mL) in
15 cases. LDH and CRP were elevated in all patients at baseline
investigations; 343 U/L (169-931 U/L) and 8 mg/dL (1-17 mg/dL),
respectively. Creatine kinase was reported in seven cases; with 1,115
and 561 U/L in two cases and normal range in remaining five. Troponine
was assessed in nine cases at baseline 13.09 (90.72-4.75) pg/mL.
Moreover, ferritine level was evaluated in 7 patients, all of them
revealed elevated values with an overall median of 824 (287-3429) ng/mL.
Furthermore, the median segmented neutrophils and lymphocytes values for
15 cases were 72% and 15%, respectively. Median values for sodium,
potassium, chloride, and calcium showed slight to no elevation, and they
were 133, 3.9, 96.5, and 2.2 mmol/L, respectively (Table 2) .
Figure 2 displays median and range for three laboratory workups(Appendix 1) . The Median (range) for TLC was
6×109/L (4-10×109/L),
7×109/L (4-16×109/L), and
7×109/L (4-11×109/L) for first,
second, and third workups, respectively. CRP reached its highest value
on admission workup 8 mg/dL (1-17 mg/dL), then it decreased to 5mg/dL
for both the second and third workups. Whereas LDH was higher in the
second 363 U/L (151-596 U/L) than in the first 343 U/L (169-931 U/L) and
third 305 U/L (196-523 U/L) workups. Median hemoglobin concentrations
were higher in the first [13 g/dL (11-17 g/dL)] and second [13
g/dL (8-15 g/dL)] workups as opposed to the third workup [12 g/dL
(7-14 g/dL)]. The highest median platelet count was recorded in the
third workup [346×109/L
(138-681×109/L)]; whereas it measured
216×109/L (85-487×109/L) and
317×109/L (84-585×109/L) in the
first and second workups, respectively.