Post COVID-19 pulmonary complications; a single center experience

Although the rate and severity of complications after coronavirus 2019 disease (COVID-19) resolution is currently unknown, evidence regarding their presence is increasing in the literature. This study presents a series of cases with post COVID-19 short-term pulmonary complications.

This is a single center retrospective case series study. The demographic and clinical data were collected from the center's electronic records. All the included cases were confirmed COVID-19 patients who had pulmonary complications even after their recovery.

Nineteen COVID-19 patients were involved in this study. Fourteen of them were male (73.7%) and only 5 (26.3%) cases were female, with a mean age of 52.05 years (26-77). All of the patients developed severe COVID-19 and were admitted to intensive care unit (ICU). The average infection duration was 13.5 days (10-21). The most common complaints after recovery from COVID-19 were shortness of breath, fever, and hemoptysis. Computed tomography scan showed different pulmonary abnormalities between the cases. Different surgical procedures were performed for the patients according to their conditions, such as decortications, lobectomy, and bullectomy. More than half of the patients (n = 10) recovered and were discharged from hospital without complications, five patients were admitted to the ICU, 3 cases developed mucormycosis, and one case passed away.

Following the resolution of COVID-19, patients may experience severe pulmonary complications that may last for months and can affect quality of life, ICU admission, or even death.