UNASSIGNED: Sixty patients (30 post-COVID and 30 not previously affected by COVID-19) with persistent dyspnea submitted to lung perfusion scintigraphy and hrCT were retrospectively recruited. Perfusion rates of the pulmonary fields and hrCT-based normalized inflated, emphysematous, infiltrated, collapsed, and vascular lung volumes were calculated. Inflammatory and coagulation biomarkers were collected. PE at imaging was an exclusion criterion.
UNASSIGNED: Compared to controls, reduced perfusion rates of the lower pulmonary fields and higher perfusion rates of the middle ones were observed in post-COVID patients, while hrCT findings were superimposable between the two groups. Perfusion rates of lower pulmonary fields were significantly associated only with abnormal lung volumes at hrCT.
UNASSIGNED: In post-COVID dyspnea without PE, lung perfusion scintigraphy may reveal a pulmonary involvement not detectable by hrCT. Post-COVID patients may show decreased perfusion rates of lower pulmonary fields in the presence of normal vascular density and markers of inflammation/coagulation.
■与对照组相比,在COVID后患者中观察到下肺野的灌注率降低,而中间肺野的灌注率更高,而hrCT结果在两组之间是重叠的。下肺野的灌注率仅与hrCT的异常肺体积显着相关。
■在没有PE的COVID后呼吸困难中,肺灌注闪烁显像可能显示hrCT无法检测到的肺部受累。在正常血管密度和炎症/凝血标志物存在的情况下,COVID后患者可能显示下肺野的灌注率降低。