Pro. (Dr.) Arvind Kumar, President, Institute of Chest Surgery, Chest Onco-Surgery and Lung Transplantation. Co-Chairman, Medanta Robotic Institute explains, “Whatever serious deaths caused by COVID was one aspect of it, but it has left a good number of people crippled and disabled on a long-term basis and among them Many will die prematurely. Come on, a mortality rate that would not show up in the records of COVID deaths as these were not acute deaths. These could happen in the coming months or years.”
But to understand the situation clearly, we first need to know that the long-term effect of COVID on the lungs depends on the severity of the infection in the initial attack. We saw three patterns – people who had minimal or mild pneumonia (they all had complete regression of problems and were cured – they had CT scans and all were normal), a second category of people who had a moderate type of lung involvement (They have healed but are some sort of fibrotic patch; they suffer from a mild level of permanent damage, but it is not enough to cause any clinical problems, so they are a normal day-to-day living life, although they have less excess capacity that was previously present in their lungs) and the third group is those who have had a serious illness that has led to a variety of complications and permanent damage to their lungs, some of them Some have fibrosis, some have lost parts. The cyst is formed due to the lungs. Many of them have suffered cavities, which have developed fungal infections or pus and air around the lungs. These have caused permanent lung damage ranging from mild to severe. Some have become permanently dependent on oxygen.
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Dr. Kumar explains, “The first group that had mild involvement does not require regular long-term follow-up. We have advised all of them to do a lot of exercise like holding breath, deep breathing and that is enough. We are recommending the second group to have a lung function test (LFT) and CT scan at 6 months and follow-up based on how much abnormality the test shows. The third group of course is regular treatment and Follow-up is on.”
Dr. Lancelot Pinto, Consultant Pulmonologist, PD Hinduja Hospital and MRC, Mahim, Mumbai says, “Fortunately, most of the individuals who are suffering from the COVID-19 disease recover very well from the respiratory point of view. Individuals who suffer from severe respiratory disease (requiring oxygen or being put on a ventilator) often recover with scarring in the lungs. Such scar tissue is incapable of transporting oxygen, which can lead to shortness of breath, especially upon vigorous activity that increases the body’s demand for oxygen. In the short term, post-COVID disease, some individuals may also have hyperreactive airways, a phenomenon similar to that seen with respiratory viral infections similar to asthma. People who develop blood clots in their lungs may have a slow recovery and may need to take blood thinners until the clot has healed. When a person is hospitalized, muscle mass declines, reducing the body’s efficiency in using oxygen, leading to fatigue during the recovery period.
Talking about some of the startling findings of the impact of COVID on the lungs, Dr Kumar shares, “We were shocked to see that in some patients pneumonia destroyed various parts of the lung so quickly that it became a bee hive. Or something that looks like a sieve. A lung that looked completely normal a few weeks ago seemed to have been completely consumed by COVID. Some of these patients who survived, who were young patients, are now permanently dependent on oxygen.”
It is very possible to restore lung function in many cases, but regular breathing exercises are needed to activate the lungs and enable them to recover. But if you feel that your lung capacity is compromised even after months of recovery, it is better to contact your doctor and get yourself tested.
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