Case 1 involved a 62-year-old man with mild COVID-19 combined with hypertension, diabetes, and bronchiectasis. He had symptoms of a sore throat. After admission to the hospital on February 7 2020, he was administered with interferon alpha, arbidol, lopinavir, and other antivirals, and cefuroxime, cefoperazone, two antibiotics, and glucocorticoids. But the symptoms of sore throat were not relieved significantly. Three days after admission, several TCM doctors were invited to participate in the consultation of this patient, and then he was treated with one dose of QFPDD three times a day. Five days after admission, his sore throat improved. The nucleic acid test result turned negative. Computed tomography (CT) results of the lungs showed no exudation or signs of pneumonia, and no serious adverse events were observed. Nine days after administration, his condition further improved, and he was discharged from the hospital on February 16 2020.
Case 2 was a 66-year-old woman with moderate COVID-19, hypertension, coronary heart disease, and diabetes. She visited the hospital because of cough, sputum, blood in the sputum, and fever. After admission on February 5 2020, as the patient's symptoms of cough did not improve, it was thought suitable to administer QFPDD through a joint consultation including TCM doctors. Therefore, in addition to taking lopinavir-ritonavir and arbidol, she was administered one dose of QFPDD three times a day. After one course of the treatment (3 days), symptoms of fever, anorexia, and nasal obstruction improved. After 7 days of QFPDD treatment, her cough was completely cured. After administering QFPDD for 23 days, the nucleic acid test result became negative. No serious adverse events occurred during the treatment, and the patient was discharged on March 10 2020.
Case 3 was a 67-year-old woman with moderate COVID-19 and tuberculosis. She was admitted to the hospital on February 2 2020 with symptoms of cough. After group consultations with doctors practicing Chinese and Western medicine, she was treated with one dose of QFPDD three times a day. In addition, we administered interferon alpha and arbidol. After taking QFPDD for 2 days, her symptoms of cough significantly improved, and the nucleic acid test result turned negative after admission. Furthermore, serious adverse events were not observed. She recovered and was discharged on February 19 2020.
Case 4 involved a 72-year-old man with moderate COVID-19 and tuberculosis. He was admitted to the hospital on January 22 2020, and presented with fever and cough. The symptoms were recurrent after conventional treatment and there was no significant improvement. After inviting doctors of TCM to participate in the consultation, he was advised to be treated with one dose of QFPDD three times a day. After taking QFPDD, the fever was quickly relieved. The cough was completely cured after 4 days of TCM treatment. Sixteen days after admission, the symptoms significantly improved and the nucleic acid test result was negative. Serious adverse events were not observed. The patient recovered and was discharged on February 14 2020.
Case 5 involved a 60-year-old man with severe COVID-19 who also had type I respiratory failure and community-acquired pneumonia. He was admitted on February 15 2020 and presented with fever, fatigue, cough, and asthma. Once he was admitted, doctors held a group consultation with doctors practicing Chinese and Western medicine to decide whether to use QFPDD. After the evaluation by TCM doctors, he was treated with one dose of QFPDD three times a day. Seven days after admission, the symptoms significantly improved, and the nucleic acid test result was negative. On February 24, chest CT showed improvement in the lung lesions. No serious adverse events occurred during the treatment. The patient was cured and discharged on February 26 2020.
Case 6 involved a 66-year-old man with severe COVID-19 and lobar pneumonia. He was admitted to the hospital on February 16 2020 and presented with fatigue, anorexia, and asthma. The doctors held a group consultation with doctors practicing Chinese and Western medicine to decide whether to use QFPDD. This patient was treated with one dose of QFPDD three times a day after admission. After taking two courses of QFPDD, the symptoms were quickly relieved; scattered ground glass, strip, and dot film shadows appeared on both sides of the lung, and the absorption of lung lesions was reduced compared with that measured on the day of admission. Serious adverse events were not observed. We compared chest CT images before and after taking QFPDD (Figure 1). After 29 days of treatment, the symptoms significantly improved and the nucleic acid test result became negative. The patient was discharged on March 18.
Case 7 involved a 65-year-old man in critically ill condition. The patient exhibited a fever of unknown origin, accompanied by cough, paroxysmal dry cough, fatigue, and asthma. On February 16 2020, he was transferred to the hospital because of fever and cough for more than 20 days. No significant improvement was observed after conventional treatment. On February 21, relevant experts and TCM doctors were organized for joint consultation and decided to administer QFPDD. After QFPDD administration, the symptoms rapidly improved, and chest CT showed partial absorption on February 25. Serious adverse events were not observed. The patient was cured and discharged on March 8 2020.
Case 8 was an 82-year-old man who was critically ill. On February 8 2020, he was admitted to the hospital because of a cough for 8 days and fever for 7 days, accompanied by chills, sore throat, muscle soreness, fatigue, and other discomforts. Respiratory diseases, including respiratory failure, chronic bronchitis with emphysema, and electrolyte disorders, were observed. Chest CT showed scattered ground glass and mesh shadows in lungs, subpleural distribution, interstitial involvement, and scattered strip shadows in both lungs, mainly in the lower lobe. He was considered critically ill on February 11. After treatment, his airtightness was relieved and his blood oxygen saturation was approximately 97%. Interferon and acetylcysteine were administered, and the 13-day treatment had no significant effect on chest CT. On February 21, relevant experts and TCM doctors were organized for a consultation and decided to administer QFPDD after discussion. After two courses (February 27, 19 days after admission), symptoms such as cough and asthma were significantly reduced, and the nucleic acid test result turned negative. Before being discharged, chest CT showed scattered spots, plaques, ground glass, and cable shadows in the multi-lobar segments of both lungs, which were much better than those measured before admission. No serious adverse events occurred during QFPDD administration, and the patient was discharged on March 10 2020.
Detailed information of the aforementioned eight cases is shown in Figure 2, Figure 3, Table 2, and Table 3.