Morphine May Contribute to Improving Respiratory Failure in Severe COVID-19: A Case Report

Yukako Tanaka-Yagi; Takashi Yamaguchi; Yoshinobu Matsuda; Masanori Mori; Tomoo Ikari; Satoru Miwa; Kozue Suzuki; Ryo Tachikawa; Kyosuke Nakata; Masayuki Kanatani

doi:10.25259/IJPC_132_2021

Morphine May Contribute to Improving Respiratory Failure in Severe COVID-19: A Case Report

Indian J Palliat Care. 2022 Apr-Jun;28(2):221-223. doi: 10.25259/IJPC_132_2021. Epub 2022 May 26.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Palliative Care, Konan Medical Center, Hyogo, Japan.
² Department of Palliative Medicine, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan.
³ Department of Psychosomatic Internal Medicine, Kinki-Chuo Chest Medical Center, Sakai, Osaka, Japan.
⁴ Department of Palliative and Supportive Care Division, Seirei Mikatahara General Hospital, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan.
⁵ Department of Palliative Medicine, Tohoku University School of Medicine, Sendai, Miyagi, Japan.
⁶ Department of Seirei Hospice, Seirei Mikatahara General Hospital, Hamamatsu, Shizuoka, Japan.
⁷ Department of Palliative Care, Tokyo Metropolitan Cancer and Infectious Disease Center Komagome Hospital, Tokyo, Japan.
⁸ Department of Respiratory Medicine, Kobe City Medical Center General Hospital, Kobe, Hyogo, Japan.

Abstract

At present, the world is undergoing successive waves of the COVID-19 pandemic. When COVID-19 becomes severe, it causes respiratory failure and symptoms of dyspnoea. The patient's dyspnoea worsens to the IPOS of 3. One COVID-19 patient admitted to our medical institution developed severe illness characterised by hypoxaemia and dyspnoea. In addition to disease-modifying treatments such as remdesivir and dexamethasone, we administered morphine to relieve his dyspnoea. Surprisingly, we observed an improvement in both hypoxaemia and dyspnoea.

Keywords: COVID-19; Dyspnoea; Morphine.

Publication types

Case Reports