coronavirus

Doctors Make Strides In Managing COVID-19 Infection In Patients

While there is no FDA-approved COVID-19 treatment, doctors are in a better place at managing someone's illness today versus at the start of the pandemic

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From monoclonal antibodies to the antiviral Remdesivir and the common steroid Dexamethasone, scientists have made progress in clinical trials to find that these medications may provide benefits to some COVID-19 patients.

The biggest gains have been made inside the intensive care units where doctors have used the experimental treatments to help people recover more quickly.

Patients on ventilators are now placed on their bellies, in a technique called proning, which normally required a special bed.

Proning is becoming a familiar part of treatment protocols for COVID-19.

"We prone all kind of patients and patients who six months, we would have said, 'I don't know if we can prone them without a bed,' we are now proning, no problem," said UT Southwestern physician Dr. Kristina Goff.

Still, these are all experimental treatments as nothing has been clinically proven.

"We don't want to take away from the positive that survival rates have improved for the most severely ill, but if infections rates remain very high, it all works out in statistics and there is going to be a greater number of individuals who are still falling ill to COVID-19," said Dallas County Medical Society President Dr. Mark Casanova.

Some of the treatments that have shown success in trials on very sick patients in the hospital are now being tested on COVID-19 patients who are sick at home with mild symptoms.

For an example, clinical trials have begun for an inhaled version of Remdesivir.

Other outpatient treatments are being tested around the country.

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