British scientists have discovered abnormalities in the lungs of patients with long-term Covid who continue to suffer from shortness of breath. These were people who were never hospitalized and for whom other tests appeared to be normal.
The research appeared in pre-publication and has not yet been reviewed by other scientists.
The noble gas xenon was used in the study. According to lead researcher and professor of radiology at Oxford University Fergus Gleeson, that may show abnormalities if CT scans and other lung function tests appear to be normal. “We know that from our post-hospital Covid study,” he says.
test subjects
36 subjects participated in the study. They were divided into three groups: (1) patients with long-term Covid who had already participated in studies and had normal CT scans, (2) corona patients who had been in hospital for at least three weeks before, who had not suffered from long-term Covid and ( nearly) had normal CT scans and (3) a control group of people who had not been hospitalized with the virus and had not suffered from long-term Covid.
The test subjects all had to lie down in an MRI scanner and inhale a liter of xenon. The gas had been processed so that it could be detected with the scanner. Xenon is safe to inhale and behaves like oxygen. This allowed the radiologists to see how it passed from the lungs into the bloodstream.
Reduced gas transfer
What turned out? That in the patients with long-term Covid there seemed to be a significantly reduced gas transfer from the lungs to the bloodstream. “Although their CT scans are normal, the MRI scans with xenon detect similar abnormalities in them,” Gleeson said. “However, these people had not been through a serious illness or had been in hospital. Some had suffered from prolonged symptoms for as long as a year.”
Further research is now needed into what exactly the abnormality means, how it is caused and how many patients with long-term Covid have such abnormal scans. The answers could help develop better treatments for these patients.
The study was a pilot study and was funded by the UK Government (NIHR). A larger study will now follow with about 400 participants.
Read more about the coronavirus in our file.
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