A steroid drug that shows great promise in the treatment of COVID-19, dexamethasone, will be given to patients at CHUM.
This was confirmed by Dr. Michael Chassé, an intensivist at this university hospital center located in downtown Montreal.
“I consider myself a very skeptical doctor, and confirms to you today that patients who did not have dexamethasone will receive it, or will receive a derivative,” he said Wednesday in an interview with Paul Larocque on LCN waves.
Tested in a large clinical study, this drug has indeed shown very encouraging results.
“The preliminary results are enough to say that the benefits outweigh the risks. Now it’s always subject to seeing the final study, ”he said.
During this study, dexamethasone would have reduced mortality in the patients most seriously affected by COVID-19 by a third.
The decision to administer the product or not will be taken at the bedside of patients “while waiting for guidelines from higher authorities. Doctors still have the independence to treat their patients with the best knowledge they have, ”said Dr. Chassé.
COVID-19 is better treated
The way of treating patients with COVID-19 has also changed in recent months.
“We are better!” We are able to better optimize the fans. Even as patients we put on ventilators three months ago, today we will have alternatives. We can spare a patient a machine. We have optimized our treatments, ”detailed Dr Chassé.
In Britain, health services announced Tuesday that they would use dexamethasone in the fight against the new coronavirus.
According to researchers from the Recovery clinical trial, “one in eight deaths could be prevented by this treatment in patients placed on artificial ventilation”.
The benefits of this drug have only been seen in hospital patients who need to be oxygenated. “People who have no symptoms, or few symptoms, and who are at home did not benefit from this treatment. They can even have potential side effects, “said the doctor.
This drug is already used in many indications for its powerful anti-inflammatory effect.
As part of the Recovery trial, 2,104 patients received this treatment (orally or intravenously) for 10 days.
