Low-dose radiation therapy for COVID-19 pneumonia

The new coronavirus COVID-19 disease was declared a global public health emergency by the World Health Organization on January 2020. In the current dismal situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, effective management of patients with pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome is of utmost importance. Due to the current lack of effective pharmacological concepts, this situation has caused interest in re-considering historical reports on the treatment of patients with low-dose radiation therapy for pneumonia. Although these historical reports are of low-level evidence per se, hampering recommendations for decision-making in the clinical setting, they indicate effectiveness in the dose range between 0.3 and 1 Gy, similar to more recent dose concepts in the treatment of acute and chronic inflammatory/degenerative benign diseases with, for example, a single dose per fraction of 0.5 Gy. Thus, we review the effects and mechanism and highlight the evidence for low-dose radiation that may be viable and useful in counteracting the acute inflammatory state induced by critical stage COVID-19 in the treatment of COVID-19 pneumopathy.