High-Dose Corticosteroid or Tocilizumab for Clinical Worsening of COVID-19
Status:
Withdrawn
Trial end date:
2021-04-01
Target enrollment:
Participant gender:
Summary
COVID-19 pandemic has spread all over the world, and hospitalization of the patients with
COVİD-19 Pneumonia has become a great burden to the Intensive Care Units. Unfortunately there
is still no curative method for the disease yet. Intensive Care Units provide general care
for the patients; including oxygen therapy, maintenance of the organ systems (e.g.,
cardiovascular, renal), nutrition, antibiotic therapy for secondary infections, and etc.
One of the major problems in COVID-19 is macrophage activation syndrome, also known as
cytokine storm. It stems from exaggerated inflammatory response, which causes increased
cytokine release and results in clinical deterioration of the patients. Many drugs have been
used to prevent this exaggerated inflammation, like corticosteroids, interleukin (IL)
receptor blockers, plasma exchange, etc.
In this study our aim is to investigate the effectiveness of high dose corticosteroid
(methylprednisolone 250 mg for 3 days) and an IL-6 receptor antagonist (tocilizumab) in the
treatment of the cytokine storm of the COVID-19 patients.