San Filippo Neri hospital in Rome, on October 29, 2020. – Italy’s Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte tightened nationwide coronavirus restrictions after the country registered a record number of new cases, despite opposition from regional heads and street protests over curfews. (Photo by Tiziana FABI / AFP)
–
–
Published on: 02/12/2020 18:36
“When there is a fire, you can’t wait for things to get worse to put out the fire“The neurologist is clear and concrete Roberta Ricciardi, head of the myasthenia pathway inserted in Neurology and Thoracic Surgery at the Pisa hospital, which already since February described the important results of its coronavirus patients and treated with the cortisone. An intuition later confirmed by the British study that promoted dexamethasone. Corticosteroids have now also been included in the Ministry of Health guidelines for doctors for the treatment of Covid patients at home, but only in specific conditions. “But this – Ricciardi says to Adnkronos Salute – is not good: the treatment should not be late, but rather targeted “.
“If the fire has not broken out – he explains – the fire goes out better. In addition, it would be necessary to specify the type of drug to use, which is different according to the symptoms”. But how did Dr. Ricciardi’s interest in cortisone come about? “I deal with the care of patients affected by myasthenia, an autoimmune neuromuscular disease, and cortisone is often my first ‘weapon’. So I immediately realized that my myasthenic patients who fell ill with Covid and were treated with cortisone resolved quickly, “he says. “Then came the result of English studies, however too late in my opinion. In fact, it should now be clear that cortisone is to be used immediately, at the beginning of the infection, and not to patients already compromised. In this case it would allow the fire to be extinguished immediately. The guidelines of the ministry, however, do not give the dosage, suggest waiting three days and do not specify how much and what cortisone to give “.
For the expert, “if the patient presents with difficulty in breathing, dry cough, nausea and fatigue at the slightest effort, with frequent chest pain, dry throat and often also loss of taste and smell, instead it is good to intervene immediately. If the patient is serious – he details – it is necessary to proceed with injectable dexamethasone formulations, in modest forms of the disease it is also possible to proceed with oral deltacortene. To the cortisone therapy is always added a covering antibiotic therapy and heparin, if necessary in certain patients, to avoid possible coagulation disorders “. In short,” the above all cortisone protocol must be flexible and as personalized as possible, to get the best results “.
Roberta Ricciardi also made an appeal to the Minister of Health, Roberto Speranza, and to the Deputy Minister, Pierpaolo Sileri, in favor of the usefulness of cortisone therapy, in April. “Now we need clarity: this therapy is really effective, we don’t have to waste time”.
–
REPRODUCTION RESERVED © Copyright Adnkronos.
