2022 Volume 81 Issue 1 Pages 45-48
In the present study, when 13 patients who were classified as having moderate COVID-19 (coronavirus disease2019) with percutaneous oxygen saturation (SpO2) levels of ≤ 93% while receiving ≥ 3 L/min of oxygen therapywere placed in an awake prone position during therapy, SpO2 levels increased in 11 patients. There were no differences in age, sex, or blood test results between the group in which improvements were observed while receivingtreatment in the prone position alone and the group that required subsequent mechanical ventilation. However,chest computed tomography (CT) showed lesions in the center of the dorsal side in the former and from the dorsalto the ventral side in the latter. If lesions are located in the center of the dorsal side on chest CTs, mechanical ventilation management may be avoided by placing patients in the awake prone position during therapy
