Haunting 3D image shows rapid lung damage in US coronavirus patient as it went from mild to severe 'very quickly'
Doctors have used virtual reality to see into the lungs of a COVID-19 patient. The 3D image captured the lung damage brought about by the new coronavirus.
The patient, a man in his later 50s, was recently admitted to the George Washington University Hospital in Washington DC. The patient had only one underlying health condition: high blood pressure.
His symptoms, which started out mild - fever and cough - quickly got out of hand, leaving him gasping for breath, according to a podcast put out by the hospital.
"What we are seeing is that there was rapid and progressive damage to the lungs,” said Dr Keith Mortman, Chief of Thoracic Surgery at GW Hospital, in an interview for the hospital’s podcast, HealthCast. That damage, which appears in yellow on the image below, meant that he needed support to pump oxygen in and out of his body. So the doctors put him on a ventilator in another hospital.
The patient got to a point where even the ventilator could not support him. He was then brought to the George Washington University Hospital, where he was put on ECMO, a machine that replaces the functions of a heart and lungs. It removes blood from the body, infuses it with oxygen and then returns it to the body.
"There is such a stark contrast between the virus-infected abnormal lung and the more healthy, adjacent lung tissue,” said Dr Mortman. "And it’s such a contrast that you do not need an MD after your name to understand these images. The damage we’re seeing is not isolated to any one part of the lung. This is severe damage to both lungs diffusely," he added.
Dr Mortman expects to see more damage if he were to use virtual reality again after a week.
How does the virus attack the lung?
The progression from mild or moderate to severe can occur “very, very quickly,” Bruce Aylward, a WHO assistant director-general who co-led a mission to China, said. The doctors at George Washington University Hospital saw this play out in the patient.
According to experts, the coronavirus onslaught begins and ends in the lungs. First, the virus gains entry into the lungs and appears to kill two kinds of lung cells: one that makes mucus and the other keeps viruses away. Both these cells are instrumental in keeping the lungs healthy. The dead cells formed clog the lungs, leading to pneumonia.
Sensing the body is under attack, the immune system comes into the picture. Instead of repairing the damage, sometimes the immune system can worsen it, leading to more severe pneumonia.
“So you get more damage instead of less from the immune response. Even more, debris clogs up the lungs and pneumonia worsens, "University of Maryland School of Medicine associate professor Matthew B Frieman, told National Geographic.
And as the damage builds up, the lungs can endure permanent damage. “When that inflammation does not subside with time, then it becomes essentially scarring in the lungs, creating long-term damage, It could impact somebody’s ability to breathe in the long term," Dr Mortman explained.