Table 1 Treatment Guidelines

Munich Guideline (author translation)

Michael Seilmaier, Joachim Meyer, Clemens Wendtner, Niklas Schneider

"Thus, for example we recommend that patients with COVID-19 and respiratory exhaustion in intensive care units first be stabilised by oxygen support via nasal cannula or high flow. The target is an oxygen saturation > 90%. In particular, younger patients under 50 years of age and without severe pre-existing lung disease seem to benefit from the treatment. Invasive ventilations could therefore be avoided, ICU resources could be saved and the length of the stay in the ICU could be significantly shortened."^a

Hamburg Guideline (author translation)

Stefan Kluge, Uwe Janssens, Tobias Welte, Steffen Weber-Carstens, Gereon Schälte, Christoph D. Spinner, Jakob J. Malin, Petra Gastmeier, Florian Langer, Martin Wepler, Michael Westhoff, Michael Pfeifer, Klaus F. Rabe, Florian Hoffmann, Bernd W. Böttiger, Julia Weinmann-Menke, Alexander Kersten, Peter Berlit, Reiner Haase, Gernot Marx, Christian Karagiannidis

"The goal of the therapy for acute hypoxaemic respiratory insufficiency during COVID-19 is to ensure adequate oxygenation. The target should be SpO2 ≥ 90% (COPD patients > 88%) or PaO₂ > 55 mm Hg. We suggest that for patients with COVID-19 and hypoxaemic respiratory insufficiency (PaO₂/FiO₂ = 100–300 mmHg), treatment with high flow oxygen therapy (HFNC) or non-invasive ventilation should be attempted under continuous monitoring and constant intubation standby. We suggest that intubation and invasive ventilation should be considered in patients with COVID-19 and more severe hypoxaemia (PaO₂/FiO₂ < 150 mm Hg) and respiratory rates > 30/min. Intubation and invasive ventilation should as a rule be performed when PaO2/FiO₂ is < 100 mmHg."^b