Study Reveals How Potentially Fatal COVID-19 Complications Damage Lung Tissue – ScienceDaily

Until now, little was known about the cellular mechanisms that cause fulminant pulmonary fibrosis (FLF) in intractable COVID-19. FLF is characterized by sudden onset and rapid progression of damage to lung tissue, often requiring lung transplantation.

“We believe this is the first step in understanding fibrosis after ARDS due to COVID-19 and may provide insights into potential treatments for this disease.” said Soma SK Jyothula, MD, senior author of the study and associate professor at the Center. UTHealth for advanced cardiopulmonary care and transplantation at his McGovern Medical School in Houston.

Among patients with COVID-19 pneumonia, severe lung disease and acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) have been the leading causes of death since the pandemic began in 2020, Jyothula said.

According to research published online, evidence of FLF is seen on average about 15 weeks after the onset of symptoms. eBiomedicinePart of lancet journal family.

Symptoms of FLF in ARDS post-COVID-19 include very low oxygen levels in tissues that require large amounts of supplemental oxygen, the need for a ventilator, and sometimes extracorporeal oxygenation of the patient’s blood. Includes mechanical support from and back. it into their system.

This study reveals a unique fibrotic gene signature in patients with unresolvable COVID-19. They explain that they cannot resolve as a patient who has experienced long-term pulmonary effects after contracting the virus.

“In some patients with COVID-19, lung damage progresses so rapidly that lung transplantation may be the only viable option for survival,” said Graham Distinguished, MD, Pulmonary Medicine, McGovern School of Medicine. Professor Jyothula said.

The study looked at 23 patients (19 men, 4 women) who had incurable COVID-19 and underwent lung transplantation to treat their illness. The average age of the patients he was 47 years, including one patient he was 16 years old.

All patients underwent lung transplantation between July 2020 and July 2021.

As controls for this study, the researchers utilized discarded donor lung tissue and tissue from patients with pulmonary fibrosis of unknown cause. High-resolution images showed unresolvable evidence of extensive fibrosis in her COIVD-19 patient’s lungs.

Pulmonary fibrosis progressed rapidly in COVID-19-positive patients. Within 119 days of symptom onset, he required lung transplantation for patient survival.

Studies show that typical symptoms of pulmonary fibrosis of unknown cause, the most common type of case, can take years to progress to severe lung disease. This publication is one of the few studies currently describing the molecular details of fibrosis in COVID-19-infected lungs.

This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, a Parker B. Francis Fellowship, and the Center for Clinical Translational Sciences at McGovern School of Medicine.

Researchers at McGovern Medical School included research assistant Andrew Peters. Yafen Liang, MD, Associate Professor. Weizhen Bi, Senior Researcher. Pooja Shivshankar Assistant Professor. Xiaoyi Yuan, PhD, Assistant Professor. Bindu Akkanti, MD, Associate Professor. Scott Collum, Research Program Manager. Nancy Wareing, MD/PhD candidate. Bihong Zhao, MD, PhD, Associate Professor. L. Maximilian Buja, MD. Holger Eltzschig, MD, PhD. Dr. Harry Calmouti-Quintana, Assistant Professor.

Buja, Yuan, Eltzschig, and Karmouty-Quintana are also faculty members at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center UTHealth Houston School of Biomedical Sciences, where Wareing is a student.

Another study revealed long-term clinical outcomes for COVID-19 patients undergoing lung transplantation.

A study published in the September issue of open forum infections, found that lung transplantation is an acceptable treatment for pulmonary fibrosis due to COVID-19 infection. Between January 2020 and his March 2022, a total of 13 patients received lung transplants at Memorial Hellman Hospital in Houston. Six of his cases were followed for a minimum of 6 months post-surgery, and all but one showed excellent long-term outcomes with few or no post-transplant complications.

One patient died of infectious complications 218 days after surgery.

The study was led by Hana Javaid, MD, a former Transplant Infectious Diseases Fellow at McGovern Medical School, and a team of other researchers at the same school, including Jyothula.