Weaning of Severe COVID-19 Mechanically Ventilated Patients: Experience within a Dedicated Unit in Israel.

BACKGROUND: Patients diagnosed with coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) who deteriorate to respiratory failure and require mechanical ventilation may later need to be weaned from the ventilator and undergo a rehabilitation process. The rate of weaning COVID-19 patients from mechanical ventilation is unknown. OBJECTIVES: To present our experience with ventilator weaning of COVID-19 patients in a dedicated facility. METHODS: A retrospective cohort study was conducted of 18 patients hospitalized in a COVID-19 dedicated ventilator weaning unit. RESULTS: Eighteen patients were hospitalized in the dedicated unit between 6 April and 19 May 2020. Of these, 88% (16/18) were weaned and underwent decannulation, while two patients deteriorated and were re-admitted to the intensive care unit. The average number of days spent in our department was 12. There was no statistically significant correlation between patient characteristics and time to weaning from ventilation or with the time to decannulation. CONCLUSIONS: Despite the high mortality of COVID-19 patients who require mechanical ventilation, most of the patients in our cohort were weaned in a relatively short period of time. Further large-scale studies are necessary to assess the cost effectiveness of dedicated COVID-19 departments for ventilator weaning.