COVID-19 may cause long-term lung damage: study

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Scientists have recognized persistent injury within the lungs of COVID-19 sufferers at the least three months after they have been discharged from hospital, and for some sufferers even longer.

This injury was not detected by routine CT scans and scientific checks, and the sufferers would consequently usually be informed their lungs are regular, in accordance the researchers on the universities of Sheffield and Oxford within the U.Okay.

The study, revealed within the journal Radiology, additionally reveals that sufferers not hospitalised with COVID-19 however who expertise long-term breathlessness may have related injury of their lungs. However, the researchers stated a bigger study is required to verify this.

They famous that hyperpolarised xenon MRI (XeMRI) scans had discovered abnormalities within the lungs of some COVID-19 sufferers greater than three months — and in some instances, 9 months — after leaving hospital, when different scientific measurements have been regular.

The ¹²⁹Xe MRI is pinpointing the elements of the lung the place the physiology of oxygen uptake is impaired as a result of lengthy standing results of COVID-19 on the lungs, though they usually look regular on CT scans.

“Many COVID-19 patients are still experiencing breathlessness several months after being discharged from hospital, despite their CT scans indicating that their lungs are functioning normally,” stated Professor Fergus Gleeson, the study’s principal investigator at Oxford. “Our follow-up scans using hyperpolarised xenon MRI have found that abnormalities not normally visible on regular scans are indeed present, and these abnormalities are preventing oxygen getting into the bloodstream as it should in all parts of the lungs.”

The study has now begun testing sufferers who weren’t hospitalised with COVID-19 however who’ve been attending lengthy COVID clinics.

“Although we are currently only talking about early findings, the XeMRI scans of non-hospitalised patients who are breathless — and 70% of our local patients with Long COVID do experience breathlessness — may have similar abnormalities in their lungs,” Gleeson defined. “We need a larger study to identify how common this is and how long it will take to get better.”