Italian doctor treats virus patients at their homes

One of the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic so far has been health services around the world struggling to cope with the high influx of seriously ill patients filling intensive care capacity.

But what if doctors could can make sure those infected get the treatment they need early on and do not need to go to a hospital at all?

Luigi Cavanna is a senior oncologist in Piacenza, a city in the Emilia-Romagna region but on the border with Italy's hardest-hit Lombardy region.

He immediately rushed to help in the fight against the new virus, and like many colleagues, during the first days of the epidemic he saw emergency wards and intensive care units filling up to capacity.

One day, a local resident woman called with COVID-like symptoms.

Cavanna and his colleagues visited her at home, performed an ultrasound test on her chest and immediately prescribed antiviral drug and Hydroxychloroquine, normally used to treat malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis.

They left an oximeter with her, so that she could send data about the oxygen levels in her blood over the following days.

She slowly improved, which triggered a wider question for Cavanna - what if this approach could be replicated?

Since then, just over 100 patients have been treated at home by Cavanna and his team, and his initial intuition proved right: less than 10% of those had to be admitted to hospital, with an overwhelming majority responding well to home treatment and recovery.

What is now becoming known as the "Piacenza model" has already inspired colleagues in his region.

The local health authority and the Emilia Romagna's regional administration are putting together teams tasked with treating and monitoring COVID patients at home since the early stages of the disease.

Cavanna hopes the approach followed by him and his colleagues will be replicated by others.

Other Italian regions have already got in touch to know more about the strategy, which could be especially fruitful in areas that have been less affected so far by the epidemic.

Cavanna says if those regions make sure they have a system in place where they can offer his kind of home treatment, that could make a big difference.

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