Establishing a COVID-19 Prospective Cohort for Identification of Secondary HLH

Establishing a Covid-19 Prospective Cohort to Document Cases of Secondary Hemophagocytic Lymphohistiocytosis (sHLH, Synonoums to Macrophage Activation Syndrome)

SARS-CoV2 has become a pandemic disease putting an enormous burden on health care systems around the world. A considerable amount of patients require intensive care treatment for Covid-19 associated pneumonia. At this point there is no specific treatment, apart from supportive intensive care treatment protocols for severe COVID-19 disease.The latest reports describe massive hyperinflammation in some of the severe COVID-19 patients, which is not a typical finding in virus associated pneumonia. The H-score and the modified HLH 2004 score offer diagnostic tools, that help establishing the diagnosis of HLH. Even more important is the expert clinical judgment to establish the diagnosis of sHLH.

SARS-CoV2 has become a pandemic disease putting an enormous burden on health care systems around the world. The course of disease is relatively mild in most of the patients, but there is a considerable amount of patients that require intensive care treatment for Covid-19 associated pneumonia. At this point there is no specific treatment, apart from supportive intensive care treatment protocols for severe COVID-19 disease.The latest reports describe massive hyperinflammation in some of the severe COVID-19 patients. The H-score and the modified HLH 2004 score offer diagnostic tools, that helps establishing the diagnosis of HLH. Moreover expert clinical judgment is key to establish a diagnosis of sHLH. Still, so far no systematic analysis has been carried out answering the question as to whether or not these patients suffer from secondary HLH and could potentially benefit from immunomodulatory drugs.

Inclusion Criteria:

• Age > 17a
• diagnosis of SARS CoV 2 by PCR testing
• Hospitalized due to clinical severity of the disease
• written and informed consent or consent of the family
• GFR<30 is not an exclusion criterion

Exclusion Criteria:

• not fulfilling the inclusion criteria
• missing written and informed consent