A trauma surgeon in Texas says it is rare for X-rays in any of his patients with COVID-19 to return without dense scars. Dr. Brittany Bankhead-Kendall posted on Twitter“Post-COVID lungs look worse than any kind of terrible smoker’s lung I’ve ever seen. And they collapse. And they clot. And the shortness of breath persists … and further … and further “.
“Everyone is so worried about mortality and that’s awful and awful,” she told CBS Dallas-Fort Worth. “But man, for all the survivors and the people who gave positive results, this is – it’s going to be a problem.”
Bankhead-Kendall, an assistant professor of surgery at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, has treated thousands of patients since the pandemic began in March.
CBS Dallas
She says that patients who have shown symptoms of COVID-19 always have a severe chest x-ray, and asymptomatic people have a severe chest x-ray between 70% and 80% of the time.
“There are still people who say, ‘I’m fine. I don’t have a problem,’ and you have a chest x-ray and they have a really bad chest x-ray,” she said.
In the X-ray photos of a normal lung, a smoker and a COVID-19 lung that Bankhead-Kendall shared with CBS Dallas, healthy lungs are cleaned with a lot of black, which is mostly air. In the smoker’s lung, white lines indicate scarring and congestion, while the COVID lung is filled with white.
“Either you will see a lot of dense white scars, or you will see it all over your lungs. Even if you have no problems now, the fact that it is on the chest x-ray – it is certain that it is indicative that you may have problems later, “she said.
Dr. Brittany Bankhead-Kendall via CBS Dallas
Dr. Amesh Adalja, an infectious disease expert and scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, told CBSN that some patients with severe COVID-19 could feel the impact for years to come.
“When someone recovers from pneumonia, whether it is bacterial pneumonia or viral pneumonia, it will take some time for the chest x-ray to improve. Chest radiography remains in clinical improvement. X-rays still look bad, “he said. And we know that people with COVID-19 can suffer from severe pneumonia, and some of that pneumonia will lead to lung damage, which will take time to heal. some of these may be permanent.
He said the potential long-term health consequences are another reason why people should take warnings about the disease seriously.
“It’s not something you can breathe. It’s not something you want to have. Because, even if you survive, you can be left with some severe complications that make it very difficult for you to get back to basics.”
Bankhead-Kendall said it’s important that if you have trouble breathing after COVID-19 disappears, stay in touch with your primary care physician.
She also points out, “There is no long-term implication of a vaccine that could ever be as bad as the long-term implications of COVID.”