Temporal Dynamics of Nasopharyngeal and Tracheal Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Cycle Thresholds in Coronavirus Disease 2019 Patients With Tracheostomy

Sallie M Long; Alexander Chern; Victoria Cooley; Sei Chung; Noah Z Feit; Arryn Craney; Matthew S Simon; Andrew B Tassler

doi:10.1093/cid/ciac316

Temporal Dynamics of Nasopharyngeal and Tracheal Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Cycle Thresholds in Coronavirus Disease 2019 Patients With Tracheostomy

Clin Infect Dis. 2022 Oct 29;75(9):1649-1651. doi: 10.1093/cid/ciac316.

Authors

Sallie M Long^{1

2}, Alexander Chern^{1

2}, Victoria Cooley³, Sei Chung^{1

2}, Noah Z Feit¹, Arryn Craney^{4

5}, Matthew S Simon⁶, Andrew B Tassler¹

Affiliations

¹ Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Weill Cornell Medical College and NewYork-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, New York, USA.
² Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery, Columbia University Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons and Columbia University Irving Medical Center/New York-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, New York, USA.
³ Division of Biostatistics and Epidemiology, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York, USA.
⁴ Clinical Molecular and Microbiology, Orlando Health Regional Medical Center, Orlando, Florida, USA.
⁵ Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York, USA.
⁶ Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, New York, USA.

Abstract

In this study of 45 patients with COVID-19 undergoing tracheostomy, nasopharyngeal and tracheal cycle threshold (Ct) values were analyzed. Ct values rose to 37.9 by the time of tracheostomy and remained >35 postoperatively, demonstrating that persistent test positivity may not be associated with persistent transmissible virus in this population.

Keywords: COVID; PCR; SARS-CoV-2; cycle thresholds; tracheostomy.

Publication types

Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural

MeSH terms

COVID-19 Testing
COVID-19*
Humans
Nasopharynx
SARS-CoV-2*
Tracheostomy