Management of pulmonary contusions during the COVID‐19 pandemic

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) is an emerging infectious disease with human-to-human transmission. Early identification of patients with COVID-19 is important in preventing its spread. CASE PRESENTATION: A 36-year-old man with a fever for 3 days fell from the 5th floor and was transported to our emergency department. Pan-scan computed tomography (CT) revealed multiple ground-glass opacities just below the pleura, pelvic fractures, thoracic vertebral fracture (Th11), and right femoral fracture. COVID-19 was ruled out based on negative real-time reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction results on days 2 and 3, and a reduction in the multiple ground-glass opacities on CT carried out on day 5. Until the suspicion of COVID-19 was cleared, strict and standardized processing procedures were implemented in the same way as for a patient with COVID-19. CONCLUSIONS: It is very difficult to rapidly differentiate between pulmonary contusions and COVID-19, as these conditions have many similarities on CT.