Pulmonary Dysfunction after Pediatric COVID-19
Heiß R, Tan L, Schmidt S, Regensburger A, Ewert F, Mammadova D, Bühler A, Vogel-Claussen J, Voskrebenzev A, Rauh M, Rompel O, Nagel AM, Levy S, Bickelhaupt S, May M, Uder M, Metzler M, Trollmann R, Wölfle J, Wagner A, Knieling F (2022)
Publication Type: Journal article
Publication year: 2022
Journal
Abstract
Background
Long COVID occurs in lower frequency in children and adolescents than in adults. Morphologic and free-breathing phase-resolved functional low-field MRI may identify persistent pulmonary manifestations after SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Purpose
To characterize both morphologic and functional changes of lung parenchyma on low-field MRI in children and adolescents with post COVID-19 compared with healthy controls.
Materials and Methods
Between August and December 2021, a cross-sectional, prospective clinical trial using low-field MRI was performed in children and adolescents from a single academic medical center. The primary outcome was the frequency of morphologic changes on MRI. Secondary outcomes included MRI-derived functional proton ventilation and perfusion parameters. Clinical symptoms, the duration from positive RT-PCR test and serological parameters were compared with imaging results. Nonparametric tests for pairwise and corrected tests for groupwise comparisons were applied to assess differences in healthy controls, recovered participants and with long COVID.
Results
A total of 54 participants post COVID-19 infection (mean age, 11 years ±3 [SD], 56 males) and 9 healthy controls (mean age, 10 years ±3 [SD], 70 males) were included: 29 (54%) in the COVID-19 group had recovered from infection and 25 (46%) were classified as having long COVID on the day of enrollment. Morphologic abnormality was identified in one recovered participant. Both ventilated and perfused lung parenchyma (V/Q match) was reduced from 81±6.1% in healthy controls to 62±19% (P =.006) in the recovered group and 60±20% (P=.003) in the long COVID group. V/Q match was lower in post COVID patients with infection less than 180 days (63±20%, P=.03), 180 to 360 days (63±18%, P=0.03) and 360 days ago (41±12%, P<.001) as compared with the never-infected healthy controls (81±6.1%).
Conclusion
Low-field MRI showed persistent pulmonary dysfunction in both children and adolescents recovered from COVID-19 and with long COVID.
Authors with CRIS profile
Rafael Heiß
Institute of Radiology
Adrian Regensburger
Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
Franziska Ewert
Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
Dilbar Mammadova
Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
Manfred Rauh
Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
Oliver Rompel
Lehrstuhl für Diagnostische Radiologie
Armin Michael Nagel
Professur für metabolische und funktionelle MR-Bildgebung
Simon Levy
Institute of Radiology
Sebastian Bickelhaupt
Institute of Radiology
Matthias May
Institute of Radiology
Michael Uder
Lehrstuhl für Diagnostische Radiologie
Markus Metzler
Professur für Kinder- und Jugendmedizin mit dem Schwerpunkt Pädiatrische Onkologie und Hämatologie
Regina Trollmann
Professur für Kinder- u. Jugendmedizin Schwerpunkt Neuropädiatrie
Joachim Wölfle
Lehrstuhl für Kinder- und Jugendmedizin
Alexandra Wagner
Professur für Kinder- u. Jugendmedizin Schwerpunkt Neuropädiatrie
Ferdinand Knieling
Department of Paediatrics and Adolescent Medicine
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Germany (DE)How to cite
APA:
Heiß, R., Tan, L., Schmidt, S., Regensburger, A., Ewert, F., Mammadova, D.,... Knieling, F. (2022). Pulmonary Dysfunction after Pediatric COVID-19. Radiology. https://dx.doi.org/10.1148/radiol.221250
MLA:
Heiß, Rafael, et al. "Pulmonary Dysfunction after Pediatric COVID-19." Radiology (2022).
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