Extracorporeal Cytokine Hemadsorption in Severe COVID-19 Respiratory Failure

Despite the extracorporeal cytokine hemadsorption device CytoSorb was granted FDA emergency approval for critically ill COVID19 patients, to our knowledge no published studies are currently available to support its use. This manuscript reports the experience of the use of CytoSorb during COVID19 pandemic in Bergamo, Italy. In our pilot study, eleven COVID19 patients requiring invasive mechanical ventilation for a rapidly progressive ARDS were treated with 24 to 48 hours of extracorporeal cytokine hemadsorption.

Respiratory and laboratory parameters, including a full set of inflammatory cytokines, were evaluated at different time points. A significant but transient reduction of the hyperinflammatory status was observed, along with the amelioration of the clinical and respiratory parameters.

We believe that this manuscript will provide them with important preliminary data on the use of cytokine hemadsorption devices.