Covid-19 Might affect the Lungs

According to the scientists, Covid-19 patients can suffer from lung damage three months later they were released from the hospital. The time gap can be much longer in the case of some patients as well.

As per the researchers at the universities of Sheffield and Oxford in the UK, the CT scans and other clinical tests cannot detect the damage, and the patients might feel that their lungs is in proper condition.

 The research published in the journal, Radiology clearly points out that the positive patients who were in home isolation but experienced shortness of breath for a long span of time can face the same amount of damage.

But, the researchers are yet to finalize this as a much deeper study is required.

They pointed that hyperpolarised xenon MRI (XeMRI) scans have detected some problems in the functioning of the lungs in Covid positive patients after three months or even nine months of their release from the hospital in spite of other clinical tests being normal.

Jim Wild, a Professor from the University of Sheffield opined, “The findings of the study are very interesting.”

The 129Xe MRI points out at the portions of the lungs where the physiology of the oxygen uptake is hampered because of the prolonged effect of coronavirus on the lungs, even if they seem to be all right on CT scans.

Professor Fergus Gleeson, the principal investigator of the study from Oxford stated, “Many covid-19 patients are still experiencing breathlessness several months after being discharged from hospital, despite their CT scans indicating that their lings are functioning normally.”

Gleeson further added, “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 is administering people who were going to Covid clinics but were not hospitalized.

Gleeson exclaimed, “Although we are currently only talking about early findings, the XeMRI scans of non-hospitalized patients who are breathless- and 70 percent of our local patients with Long Covid do experience breathlessness – may have similar abnormalities in their lungs.”

He concluded, “We need a larger story to identify how common this is and how long it will take to get better.’