(Press-News.org) OAK BROOK, Ill. – An advanced type of MRI uncovers significant lung abnormalities in children and adolescents with long COVID, according to a new study published today in Radiology, a journal of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).
Post-COVID-19 condition, commonly known as long COVID, can affect individuals of all ages and is diagnosed when symptoms persist for more than 12 weeks after an initial COVID-19 infection. Children and adolescents typically experience a milder form of the condition, but common symptoms such as chronic fatigue, headaches and poor concentration can negatively impact school performance and social activities.
While chest CT is frequently used to diagnose and monitor lung function of adults with long COVID, it is not typically recommended in children because it exposes the patient to ionizing radiation and may require injection of a contrast agent.
Young patients with suspected long COVID are typically evaluated with pulmonary function tests, echocardiography and reviews of medical history. Unfortunately, conventional pulmonary tests often show normal lung and cardiac function, even in symptomatic patients.
“Parents should understand that their children’s persistent symptoms after COVID-19 may have a measurable physiological basis, even when standard medical tests appear normal,” said lead study author Gesa H. Pöhler, M.D., a senior physician in the Department of Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology at Hannover Medical School in Germany.
The researchers employed phase-resolved functional lung (PREFUL) MRI. This advanced MRI technology can analyze lung ventilation (air movement in and out of the lungs) and perfusion (blood flow through the lungs). PREFUL MRI doesn’t require the use of radiation or intravenous contrast agents and can be done while the patient breathes freely, making it a suitable procedure for children.
“Our research provides the first comprehensive evidence of measurable regional lung perfusion abnormalities in pediatric post-COVID-19 condition using radiation-free, contrast-free lung imaging,” Dr. Pöhler said.
For the prospective study, conducted between April 2022 and 2023, the researchers enrolled 54 patients ranging in age from 11 to 17 years. Half of the patients were diagnosed with long COVID, and the other half were healthy controls. A self-reported assessment called the bell score was used to assess symptom severity in patients with long COVID.
Compared to healthy controls, children and adolescents with long COVID had significantly reduced blood flow in the lungs. A reduction in blood flow patterns in organs or other areas of the body can result in a lack of sufficient oxygen and nutrients.
The most prevalent symptom of fatigue affected all but one patient with long COVID.
“Importantly, the severity of fatigue symptoms correlated with these blood flow changes, suggesting a possible biological basis for the patients’ ongoing symptoms,” Dr. Pöhler said.
In addition to poor blood flow, a subgroup of long COVID patients with cardiopulmonary symptoms, such as shortness of breath, also showed a reduction of air movement and reach in the lungs.
The researchers suggest that continuous monitoring of lung abnormalities in children with long COVID at various stages of the condition could help guide therapeutic interventions and monitoring strategies.
“Quantitative lung MRI establishes a potential imaging biomarker profiling and helps to enable disease severity follow-up for this complex condition in the future,” Dr. Pöhler said.
###
“Phase-resolved Functional Lung MRI Reveals Distinct Lung Perfusion Phenotype in Children and Adolescents with Post-COVID-19 Syndrome.” Collaborating with Dr. Pöhler were Andreas Voskrebenzev, Ph.D., Marc-Luca Heinze, Valentina Skeries, M.D., Filip Klimeš, Ph.D., Julian Glandorf, M.D., Jan Eckstein, M.D., Nigar Babazade, Marius Wernz, B.S., Alexander Pfeil, M.D., Gesine Hansen, M.D., Frank K. Wacker, M.D., Jens Vogel-Claussen, M.D., Martin Wetzke, M.D., and Diane Miriam Renz, M.D.
Radiology is edited by Linda Moy, M.D., New York University, New York, N.Y., and owned and published by the Radiological Society of North America, Inc. (https://pubs.rsna.org/journal/radiology)
RSNA is an association of radiologists, radiation oncologists, medical physicists and related scientists promoting excellence in patient care and health care delivery through education, research and technologic innovation. The Society is based in Oak Brook, Illinois. (RSNA.org)
For patient-friendly information on chest MRI, visit RadiologyInfo.org.
END
DALLAS, February 25, 2025 — More than half of people who experiencing sudden cardiac arrest out of hospital don’t receive immediate cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), contributing to a high death rate. A many as 9 out of 10 people who experience sudden cardiac arrest die[1]. CPR, especially if performed immediately, can double or triple a person’s chance of survival. To save more lives, the American Heart Association, a global force changing the future of health for all, and National Basketball Association/NBA G League players are working to educate about the lifesaving skill.
More Americans than ...
WASHINGTON—Hormones may be leveraged to treat and prevent signs of aging such as wrinkles and hair graying, according to a new study published in the Endocrine Society journal Endocrine Reviews.
Until now, only a limited number of hormones, mainly topical retinoids (retinol and tretinoin) and estrogen which is typically used to treat side effects of menopause, have been used in clinical practice as anti-skin aging compounds. This study reviews a new class of hormones and their anti-aging properties.
“Our paper highlights key hormone players that orchestrate pathways of skin aging such as ...
It is unpleasant to have an enemy. Most people try to avoid hostilities that escalate to the point of mutual antagonism. Which raises the question: What does it take to make an enemy? One possible answer is that aversive or off-putting behaviors increase the likelihood of clashes with others that lead to lasting enmity. Yet without longitudinal data, it’s unclear which comes first – being aversive or being disliked – making it hard to distinguish between the causes and the consequences of having an enemy.
New research from Florida Atlantic University clearly establishes the order of effects. The results, published in the Journal of Youth and Adolescence, ...
Colon cancer continues to be one of the leading causes of cancer-related deaths worldwide, with poor dietary habits identified as a major risk factor. Ferulic acid, a phenolic compound abundant in many plant foods, has previously demonstrated potential anti-cancer properties by inhibiting cell proliferation and promoting apoptosis. Despite its promising effects, the impact of ferulic acid on colon cancer cells at different Duke’s progressive stages of the disease has remained largely unexplored. Given the critical need for new preventative measures, understanding the mechanisms through which ferulic acid acts on cancer cells is vital.
Published (DOI: 10.26599/FMH.2025.9420063) ...
Pseudomonas aeruginosa is notorious for its role in food spoilage and infections, posing a significant threat to both food safety and human health. Traditionally, antimicrobial agents have been the go-to solution for managing contamination. However, the overuse of these agents has accelerated the development of drug resistance, leading to the emergence of multidrug-resistant strains that are difficult to treat. In response to this growing concern, the need for alternative methods to mitigate Pseudomonas aeruginosa’s pathogenicity ...
An autonomous underwater vehicle can propel itself efficiently by using the energy in nearby water currents. Underwater and aerial vehicles must make their way through a complex environment of gusts and currents, fighting against many flows as they attempt to stay on course. Peter Gunnarson and John O. Dabiri designed an underwater robot that makes use of these flows to cut down on the energy needed to travel, “surfing” vortices to make its way to its destination. The palm-sized robot, CARL, was equipped with an onboard inertial measurement unit, ten motors to allow movement in all three axes, and a simple but effective algorithm: if ...
Neuroimaging can capture brain activity in response to stimuli before a person decides how to respond. Initial affective responses—broadly good or bad feelings about a stimulus—have been associated with activity in evolutionarily conserved subcortical and cortical circuits including the Nucleus Accumbens (NAcc) and Anterior (AIns). Activity then continues through integrative circuits associated with more deliberative and reflective processing. Previous work has suggested that the early affective responses may be more ...
Ask a Large language model (LLM) such as ChatGPT to summarize what people are saying about a topic, and although the model might summarize the facts efficiently, it might give a false impression of how people feel about the topic. LLMs play an increasingly large role in research, but rather than being a transparent window into the world, they can present and summarize content with a different tone and emphasis than the original data, potentially skewing research results. Yi Ding and colleagues compared a climate dataset of 18,896,054 tweets that mentioned "climate change" from January 2019 to December 2021 to rephrased tweets prepared by LLMs. The authors found that the ...
Gas sensing technologies play a vital role in our modern world, from ensuring our safety in homes and workplaces to monitoring environmental pollution and industrial processes. Traditional gas sensors, while effective, often face limitations in their sensitivity, response time, and power consumption.
To account for these drawbacks, recent developments in gas sensors have focused on carbon nanomaterials, including the ever-popular graphene. This versatile and relatively inexpensive material can provide exceptional sensitivity ...
New research highlighted in the journal CABI Reviews suggests that all five subregions of Africa will breach the 1.5°C climate change threshold – the limit stipulated by the Paris Agreement – by 2040 even under low emission scenarios.
A team of scientists, from the University of Zimbabwe, and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) in Kenya, conducted a literature review to develop a framework for just transition pathways for Africa’s agriculture towards low emission and climate resilient development under 1.5°C of global warming.
They found that despite Africa ...
