MRI Scans Reveal Post-COVID Extent of Lung Damage
A study of non-hospitalised individuals who had recovered from COVID but still experienced breathing difficulties had revealed lung damage where other tests were unable to.
To investigate post-COVID lung damage, Prof Fergus Gleeson led a study involving 10 participants aged 19 to 69, of whom eight had been experiencing breathing difficulties three months after a COVID infection. They had not been hospitalised for their COVID, and conventional scans had not been able to detect any abnormalities with their lungs.
The patients’ lungs were imaged using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans with xenon present in the lungs. Xenon, a noble gas, is non-toxic Xenon has a long history of use as a contrast agent, and is soluble with pulmonary tissue, allowing for investigation of specific lung characteristics that are connected to gas exchange and alveolar oxygenation, at the level of small airways where pulmonary function tests (PFTs) cannot provide information.
The scans revealed that there was indeed lung damage preventing alveolar oxygenation – and it was unexpectedly severe.
Prof Gleeson said, “I was expecting some form of lung damage, but not to the degree that we have seen.”
The findings help to explain the phenomenon of “long COVID”, where patients who have recovered from COVID continue to experience fatigue and breathing difficulties months after the original infection has ended.Based on the findings, Prof Gleeson will undertake a study with a further 100 participants based on the same criteria.
Source: BBC News
