Pulmonologists assessed the risk of scarring in the lungs after COVID-19

If the CORONAVIRUS infection was severe, after it, patients may experience areas of seals in the lungs. On x-rays, they look like scars, an associate professor at the Department of Hospital Therapy of the Moscow State Medical University named after M.V. Sechenov, pulmonologist Alexander Palman.

“In acute viral pneumonia, a ground-glass pattern is observed on CT scan of the lungs. It looks like it was thrown on a light cobweb. Subsequently, ground glass may disappear completely, but if the disease is severe, there may be areas of compaction - consolidation, ”he explained.

According to the scientist, it was previously believed that if “frosted glass” is found in the lungs of those who have been ill and a consolidation process occurs, then in the future this will necessarily transform into irreversible severe fibrosis. But now it turned out that the majority of these seals are.

“On an x-ray or CT, the areas of induration really look like formed scars, that is, fibrosis. But in fact, this is some kind of post-inflammatory thickening, and in most patients it goes away, ”said Palman.