Medical Imaging Study Shows Long-Term Implications of COVID-19 Infection

A team of German radiologists conducted a small study of adolescents with previous COVID-19 infections and found ventilated and perfused lung parenchyma reductions compared to a healthy control population.

The study took medical images of 54 participants — 29 with previous COVID-19 infections and 25 with long COVID — and compared results to 9 healthy controls with no prior infection. The adolescents who had been infected with COVID-19 were shown to have a lower ventilation/perfusion ratio (V/Q match) than their healthy counterparts.

Individuals in the recovered group had an average V/Q match of 62% compared to a baseline healthy V/Q match of 80%. The study also looked at 25 individuals with long-COVID, finding that their average V/Q match was 60%.

The decreased V/Q mismatch seen in patients who previously had COVID-19 or have long COVID is indicative of reduced ventilation and corresponds to the 28% of participants that reported dyspnea and the 30% who reported shortness of breath.

Researchers conducting the German study measured ventilation and perfusion using Siemens Healthineers 0.55 tesla MRI scanner, which received FDA approval last year. Compared to the more common 1.5 tesla and 3 tesla systems, the low wave MRI can provide a better image of lung parenchyma without using a CT scan.

In contrast to past studies, which suggest that young people suffer less severe consequences of COVID-19 infection, the German investigation demonstrates functional lung alterations in children with an average age of 11 years old. Additionally, the study indicates that long COVID may be more prevalent than currently thought, especially in children.

The research also corroborates previous findings in adults that showed a higher rate of ventilation defects in patients after COVID-19 infection compared to healthy individuals.

The long-term effects of COVID-19 are still poorly understood, but studies are beginning to form a picture of how COVID-19 infection produces morphologic and functional changes in patients. In one recent review, researchers from the Journal of Current Medical Research and Opinion determined that women experienced more long-term sequelae from COVID-19 infections than men.

In another study, researchers found that long COVID patients reported high rates of mental health and cognitive issues months after initial infection. More recent data from a large Israeli analysis has found that long COVID symptoms can persist for months in patients who initially had mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 infections.

In the United States, long-COVID has potentially affected 23 million people and is now considered a disability under the Americans with Disabilities Act.