Persisting pulmonary dysfunction in pediatric post-acute Covid-19

The frequency and extent of persistent sequelae in children and adolescents after infection with SARS-CoV-2 still needs to be comprehensively determined. In this cross-sectional clinical trial, we used non-invasive, label-free morphologic and free-breathing phase-resolved functional low-field magnetic resonance imaging (LF-MRI) to identify pulmonary changes in children and adolescents from 5 to <18 years after previously PCR-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection. While morphological pathologies were less frequent in children, functional LF-MRI visualized widespread ventilation, perfusion and combined ventilation/perfusion defects compared to healthy controls. The loss of functional lung parenchyma was more pronounced in long Covid than recovered patients. While pulmonary dysfunction was persistent even month after primary infection, LF-MRI demonstrated high capability to visualize and detect these changes in children and adolescents. ( Clinicaltrials.org ID NCT04990531 )