COVID-19
A coronavirus is one of many viruses that cause diseases in mammals and birds. In humans, coronaviruses cause respiratory tract infections that are typically mild, such as the common cold, though rarer forms such as SARS, MERS and COVID-19 can be lethal. A novel coronavirus (nCoV) is a new strain that has not been previously identified in humans. Common signs of infection include respiratory symptoms, fever, cough, shortness of breath and breathing difficulties. In more severe cases, infection can cause pneumonia, severe acute respiratory syndrome, kidney failure and even death. At the end of 2019, a novel Coronavirus (2019-nCoV) was found to be responsible for a cluster of atypical cases of pneumonia in Wuhan, China. Since then, the virus has spread both inside and outside China, and the WHO has declared this a public health emergency.
With the outbreak now present in Europe, and likely to affect many more areas over the coming months, we at ESICM have decided to help ICU professionals around the world by providing information that may make a vital contribution in the battle to contain the infection, treat the patients and to protect the frontline workers. Learning from experience can save lives and, for this purpose, we are using this webpage to share key online resources, including manuscripts and summaries of papers published in the ICM journal and other important medical journals, podcast interviews with experts and colleagues who will discuss management strategies in place for preparedness and their own experiences on the ground. ESICM will continue to provide the most up to date and crucial information in order to play its part and to face this global challenge.
- Daily updates and official guidance from WHO
- Johns Hopkins Center real time global tracking of confirmed cases
- Chinese clinical trials registry
- COVID-19 Skills Preparation Course
Appic
The first professional intensive care app designed for nurses, by nurses!
Guidelines
- Full document and supplementary material
- Summary by David Lynes Anaesthesia & Intensive Care, ESICM Editorial & Publishing Committee
- Infographic by Marta Velia Antonini CCN/CCP, MS Ist ICU University Hospital of Parma, Italy
Free educational content
ESICM academy
- Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS)
- Acute Respiratory Failure ECLS
- Mechanical Ventilation
- Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation
External resources
COVID-19 Critical Care: Understanding and Application – Free Online Resources Learn the principles and practice of critical care for patients during the COVID-19 pandemic whilst protecting yourself and your peers. The University of Edinburgh and the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh are offering this free education resource to frontline clinical staff which teaches daily practice for critical care patients with or without COVID-19, and how to apply ventilation and organ support principles to a critically ill COVID-19 patient. Discover how to facilitate your own emotional and physical wellbeing in this high-stress, high-risk environment. You will be able to select the materials that are most relevant to your work. The information in this resource will support those refreshing critical care knowledge and skills, newly qualified doctors, those who are upskilling, and those returning to acute clinical services during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Webinars
ESICM in the news
- News : ‘Get ready’: Italian doctors warn Europe of coronavirus impact on hospitals Independent March 07, 2020.
- Editorial : Health Care Heroes of the COVID-19 Pandemic JAMA. Published online April 20, 2020.
- Interview : AMA COVID-19 update Ama-assn.org April 20, 2020.
- Interview : Twitter Tg1 – Rai official – May 13, 2020
- Cover story : Covid-19 Challenges ICU Management & Practice – Volume 20 – Issue 1, 2020
ARTICLES
- Letter
- Hospital mortality in mechanically ventilated COVID-19 patients in Mexico
- Original Article
- Clinical Characteristics and Day-90 Outcomes of 4,244 critically ill adults with COVID-19: a prospective cohort study.
- Review
- Critical care management of adults with community-acquired severe respiratory viral infection.
- Editorial
- Intensive care during the coronavirus epidemic.
- Editorial
- How to face the novel coronavirus infection during the 2019–2020 epidemic: the experience of Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital.
- What’s New in Intensive Care
- Severe SARS-CoV-2 infections: practical considerations and management strategy for intensivists.
- What’s New in Intensive Care
- Novel coronavirus infection during the 2019–2020 epidemic: preparing intensive care units—the experience in Sichuan Province, China.
- Letter
- Challenges and countermeasures for organ donation during the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic: the experience of Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital.
- Letter
- Clinical predictors of mortality due to COVID-19 based on an analysis of data of 150 patients from Wuhan, China.
- Letter
- The novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infections in China: prevention, control and challenges.
- What’s New in Intensive Care
- Critical care crisis and some recommendations during the COVID-19 epidemic in China.
- Imaging in Intensive Care Medicine
- Imaging changes in severe COVID-19 pneumonia.
- Imaging in Intensive Care Medicine
- Imaging changes of severe COVID-19 pneumonia in advanced stage.
- Letter
- Findings of lung ultrasonography of novel coronavirus pneumonia during the 2019–2020 epidemic.
- Letter
- How to balance acute myocardial infarction and COVID-19: the protocols from Sichuan Provincial People’s Hospital.
- Letter
- Clinical Features and Short-term Outcomes of 18 Patients with Corona Virus Disease 2019 in Intensive Care Unit.
- Understanding the Disease
- Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) as a SARS-CoV-2 receptor: molecular mechanisms and potential therapeutic target.
- Letter
- Identification of a potential mechanism of acute kidney injury during the COVID-19 outbreak: a study based on single-cell transcriptome analysis.
- Guidelines
- Surviving Sepsis Campaign: guidelines on the management of critically ill adults with Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19).
- Editorial
- COVID-19 pneumonia: different respiratory treatment for different phenotypes?
- Letter
- Clinicolaboratory Study of 25 Fatal Cases of COVID-19 in Wuhan
- Letter
- Thrombotic events in SARS-Cov 2 patients: an urgent call for ultrasound screening
- Letter
- 15-day mortality and associated risk factors for hospitalized patients with COVID-19 in Wuhan, China: an ambispective observational cohort study
- Letter
- Time to consider histologic pattern of lung injury to treat critically ill patients with COVID-19 infection
- Correspondence
- Are subpleural consolidations indicators for segmental pulmonary embolism in COVID-19
- What’s New in Intensive Care
- Facing COVID-19 in ICU: vascular dysfunction, thrombosis, and dysregulated inflammation
- Imaging in Intensive Care Medicine
- “No dose” lung ultrasound correlation with “low dose” CT scan for early diagnosis of SARS-CoV-2 pneumonia
- Original
- High risk of thrombosis in patients with severe SARS-CoV-2 infection: a multicenter prospective cohort study
- Letter
- ICU capacity management during the COVID-19 pandemic using a process simulation
- Imaging in Intensive Care Medicine
- IL-6 may be a good biomarker for earlier detection of COVID-19 progression
- Conference Report and Expert Panel
- Antimicrobial therapeutic drug monitoring in critically ill adult patients: a Position Paper
- Letter
- New device and technique to protect intubation operators against COVID-19
- Correspondence
- Prothrombotic phenotype in COVID-19 severe patients
- Understanding the Disease
- Understanding pathophysiology of hemostasis disorders in critically ill patients with COVID-19
- Letter
- Clinical features and development of sepsis in patients infected with SARS-CoV-2: a retrospective analysis of 150 cases outside Wuhan, China
- Imaging in Intensive Care Medicine
- SARS-CoV-2 pulmonary infection revealed by subcutaneous emphysema and pneumomediastinum
- Understanding the Disease
- Simplified immune-dysregulation index: a novel marker predicts 28-day mortality of intensive care patients with COVID-19
- Correspondence
- Incidence of pulmonary embolism in patients with COVID-19
- Correspondence
- Stages or phenotypes? A critical look at COVID-19 pathophysiology
- Imaging in Intensive Care Medicine
- Systemic arterial thrombosis and acute mesenteric ischemia in a patient with COVID-19
- Correspondence
- Contrast-enhanced ultrasound (CEUS) of the lung reveals multiple areas of microthrombi in a COVID-19 patient
- Correspondence
- Transport of critically ill COVID-19 patients
- Letter
- Enhancing intensive care capacity: COVID-19 experience from a Tertiary Center in Israel
- Letter
- Lung ultrasonography versus chest CT in COVID-19 pneumonia: a two-centered retrospective comparison study from China
- Letter
- Admission chest CT score predicts 5-day outcome in patients with COVID-19
- Editorial
- The baby lung and the COVID-19 era
- Letter
- Frailty index predicts poor outcome in COVID-19 patients
- Letter
- Spontaneous echo contrast in venous ultrasound of severe COVID-19 patients
- Letter
- Clinical phenotypes of critically ill COVID-19 patients
- Letter
- Recognizing and supporting morally injured ICU professionals during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Correspondence
- Coronavirus disease 2019 as a particular sepsis: a 2-week follow-up of standard immunological parameters in critically ill patients
- What’s New in Intensive Care
- What’s new in lung ultrasound during the COVID-19 pandemic
- Letter
- Histological–ultrasonographical correlation of pulmonary involvement in severe COVID-19
- What’s New in Intensive Care
- Ten things we learned about COVID-19
- Correspondence
- Rethinking the respiratory paradigm of COVID-19: a ‘hole’ in the argument
- Letter
- Learning from mistakes during the pandemic: the Lombardy lesson
- What’s New in Intensive Care
- COVID-19: 10 things I wished I’d known some months ago
- Letter
- From phenotypes to black holes… and back
- Editorial
- How likely are COVID-19 interventions to benefit the sickest patients?
- Letter
- Severe COVID-19 is associated with deep and sustained multifaceted cellular immunosuppression
- Letter
- Severity of endothelial dysfunction is associated with the occurrence of hemorrhagic complications in COPD patients treated by extracorporeal CO₂ removal
- Letter
- Hydroxychloroquine pharmacokinetic in COVID-19 critically ill patients: an observational cohort study
- Narrative Review
- Inhalational volatile-based sedation for COVID-19 pneumonia and ARDS
- Narrative Review
- Acute kidney injury in critically ill patients with COVID-19
- Less is More in Intensive Care
- ICU beds: less is more? Not sure
- Letter
- Yesterday heroes, today plague doctors: the dark side of celebration
- Letter
- The negative impact of comorbidities on the disease course of COVID-19
- Letter
- Rapidly scalable mechanical ventilator for the COVID-19 pandemic
- Letter
- SARS-CoV-2 viral loads and serum IgA/IgG immune responses in critically ill COVID-19 patients
- Letter
- Between-centre differences for COVID-19 ICU mortality from early data in England
- Letter
- A multicenter national survey of children with SARS-CoV-2 infection admitted to Spanish Pediatric Intensive Care Units
- Letter
- Pericyte alteration sheds light on micro-vasculopathy in COVID-19 infection
- From the Inside
- Doctor–patient relationship at the time of COVID-19: travel notes
- Correspondence
- Rethinking the post-COVID-19 pandemic hospital: more ICU beds or smart monitoring on the wards?
- Editorial
- Critical care journals during the COVID-19 pandemic: challenges and responsibilities
- Letter
- Admission chest CT score predicts 5-day outcome in patients with COVID-19
- Narrative Review
- Emerging pharmacological therapies for ARDS: COVID-19 and beyond
- Understanding the Disease
- Pulmonary immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 infection: harmful or not?
- From the Inside
- Travelling to hell and back
- Letter
- Prediction of outcome of nasal high flow use during COVID-19-related acute hypoxemic respiratory failure
- Understanding the Disease
- Pulmonary immune responses against SARS-CoV-2 infection: harmful or not?
- Letter
- Serum antibody response in critically ill patients with COVID-19
- Letter
- Efficacy of early prone position for COVID-19 patients with severe hypoxia: a single-center prospective cohort study
- Letter
- Early bacterial co-infection in ARDS related to COVID-19
- Narrative Review
- Emerging pharmacological therapies for ARDS: COVID-19 and beyond
- Correspondence
- Role of frailty in COVID-19 patients
- Rapid Practice Guidelines
- Managing ICU surge during the COVID-19 crisis: rapid guidelines
- Original
- Clinical features, ventilatory management, and outcome of ARDS caused by COVID-19 are similar to other causes of ARDS
- Editorial
- Integrating the evidence: confronting the COVID-19 elephant
- Original
- Comparative study of lung ultrasound and chest computed tomography scan in the assessment of severity of confirmed COVID-19 pneumonia
- Original
- Increased mortality in patients with severe SARS-CoV-2 infection admitted within seven days of disease onset
- Correspondence
- Apoptosis and pericyte loss in alveolar capillaries in COVID-19 infection: choice of markers matters
- Letter
- The prevalence, risk factors and outcome of cardiac dysfunction in hospitalized patients with COVID-19
- Correspondence
- The role of frailty in COVID-19 patients
- Letter
- Monitoring of high-flow nasal cannula for SARS-CoV-2 severe pneumonia: less is more, better look at respiratory rate
- Letter
- Physiological dead space ventilation, disease severity and outcome in ventilated patients with hypoxaemic respiratory failure due to coronavirus disease 2019
- From the Inside
- Moral Distress In The Intensive Care Unit During The Pandemic: The Burden Of Dying Alone
- Letter
- Ensuring editorial continuity and quality of science during the COVID-19 storm: the ICM experience
- Original
- Clinical characteristics and outcomes of critically ill patients with novel coronavirus infectious disease (COVID-19) in China: a retrospective multicenter study
- Correspondence
- Early prone position for COVID-19 patients with severe hypoxia: reduces the mortality but increases the intubation risk?
- Editorial
- Lung ultrasonography as an alternative to chest computed tomography in COVID-19 pneumonia?
- Correspondence
- Apoptosis and pericyte loss in alveolar capillaries in COVID-19 infection: choice of markers matters. Author’s reply
- Letter
- Hemodynamic response to prone ventilation in COVID-19 patients assessed with 3D transesophageal echocardiography
- Original
- Lung ultrasound predicts clinical course and outcomes in COVID-19 patients
- Letter
- Pathological brain CT scans in severe COVID-19 ICU patients
- Original
- Access to intensive care in 14 European countries: a spatial analysis of intensive care need and capacity in the light of COVID-19
- From the Inside
- Searching for humanity in the time of COVID
- Understanding the Disease
- Bacterial and fungal superinfections in critically ill patients with COVID-19
- Correspondence
- Critically ill patients with COVID-19: are they hemodynamically unstable and do we know why
- Imaging in Intensive Care Medicine
- Direct evidence of SARS-CoV-2 in gut endothelium
- Letter
- The pooled prevalence of pulmonary embolism in patients with COVID-19
- Editorial
- How severe COVID-19 infection is changing ARDS management
- Letter
- Intensive care unit acquired muscle weakness in COVID-19 patients
Research
PPE SAFE
Personal Protective Equipment and healthcare worker Safety in the COVID-19 Era (The PPE-SAFE survey). The survey is designed to understand your current situation. The survey is anonymous, it takes less than 10 minutes and can be completed from a cell phone or computer. This survey is endorsed by ESICM – the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine and ESCMID ESGCIP and the Società Italiana di Anestesia Analgesia Rianimazione e Terapia Intensiva (SIAARTI). This survey is aimed at ICU Health Care Workers directly involved in the clinical management of COVID-19 patients.
SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic Survey
ESICM has endorsed an important survey, which aims to compile data about the management of COVID-19 patients and resources during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. This survey was circulated by the Society to its international intensive care community of physicians, nurses and other allied health professionals for completion. Please assist this essential research by providing your input. The survey will take approximately 15 minutes to complete.
UNITE – COVID-19 Study
COVID-19 is expected to be a challenge in ICUs globally until a safe and effective vaccine is found. Efforts to study the disease are paramount in order to advance our understanding of the disease, as well as improve treatment options. Although many registries are currently including patients, few of them focus on ICU patients, their specific treatments and newly-observed complications and challenges. This one-day multi-centre, international anonymised point prevalence study is designed to discover more about the burden of COVID-19 in ICUs around the world, including regional differences, the current management of critically ill patients with COVID-19, variability in treatment and clinical characteristics and outcomes. This study is endorsed by the European Society of Intensive Care Medicine.
Further reading
Links to external resources & websites
- Highlighted research articles and additional commentary from Springer journals.
- JAMA Network COVID-19 Collection including Q&A.
- Recommended articles and evidence from the Cochrane Library Special Collection.
- Content from the Blog written by Tommaso Scquizzato & Giovanni Landoni of the Department of Anaesthesia & Intensive Care, IRCCS San Raffaele Scientific Institute, Milan (Italy).
- ECDC information
- The response of Milan’s Emergency Medical System to the COVID-19 outbreak in Italy – The Lancet
- Elsevier’s Novel Coronavirus Information Center
- Critical Care Clinics Issue focused on disaster medicine including pandemics
