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A novel scoring system for selecting the target patients of COVID-19 convalescent plasma therapy: A hypothesis
Naveen Bansal1, Manish Raturi2, Yashik Bansal3
1Department of Transfusion Medicine, VCSG Government Institute of Medical Science and Research, Srinagar, Uttarakhand, India.
Insights
A new scoring system helps identify high-risk COVID-19 patients. Early COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) therapy for these patients may prevent cytokine storms and reduce mortality.
Area of Science:
- Immunology
- Infectious Diseases
- Critical Care Medicine
Background:
- Cytokine storm is the primary cause of mortality in COVID-19 patients, not direct viral infection.
- Early intervention with COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) is recommended by transfusion medicine specialists.
- Timely administration of CCP, ideally within 72 hours of diagnosis, is crucial.
Purpose of the Study:
- To propose a rapid scoring system for assessing patients positive for SARS-CoV-2.
- To stratify patients into low-risk and high-risk groups for targeted treatment.
Main Methods:
- Development of a scoring system to evaluate SARS-CoV-2 positive patients.
- Categorization of patients into a low-risk group (LRG; score < 5) and a high-risk group (HRG; score ≥ 5).
Main Results:
- The scoring system enables rapid patient assessment.
- HRG patients are identified for immediate intervention.
Conclusions:
- The proposed scoring system facilitates early identification of high-risk COVID-19 patients.
- Administering CCP to HRG patients within 72 hours can neutralize SARS-CoV-2 and prevent cytokine storms.
- This approach has the potential to significantly reduce mortality rates in COVID-19 patients.
Abstract:
The primary cause of mortality in patients of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the cytokine storm and not directly due to the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus. Therefore, it is being stressed by transfusion medicine specialists to use COVID-19 convalescent plasma (CCP) therapy early in the course of the disease, preferably within 72h of diagnosis. The authors herein, propose a scoring system for the rapid assessment of the patients who have tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. Therefore, a systematic approach may be followed where the patients are categorised into two groups, namely, the low-risk group [LRG; score<5] and the high-risk group [HRG; score ≥ 5] based on this scoring system. Those classified as an HRG should be administered CCP therapy within 72h of a confirmed diagnosis of COVID-19 to neutralise the SARS-CoV-2 virus and prevent the occurrence of the cytokine storm. This in turn could help reduce the overall mortality in the recipients.
