Daniele Antonio Pizzuto, Danilo Buonsenso, Rosa Morello, Cristina De Rose, Piero Valentini, A. Fragano, Fabiana Baldi, Daniela Di Giuda
Abstract
There is increasing evidence that chronic endotheliopathy can play a role in patients with Post-Covid Condition (PCC, or Long Covid) by affecting peripheral vascularization. This pilot study aimed at assessing lung perfusion in children with Long-COVID with 99m Tc-MAA SPECT/CT.
lung 99m Tc-MAA SPECT/CT was performed in children with Long-COVID and a pathological cardiopulmonary exercise testing (CPET). Intravenous injections were performed on patients in the supine position immediately before the planar scan according to the EANM guidelines for lung scintigraphy in children, followed by lung SPECT/CT acquisition. Reconstructed studies were visually analyzed.
Clinical and biochemical data were collected during acute infection and follow-up in 14 children (6 females, mean age: 12.6 years) fulfilling Long-COVID diagnostic criteria and complaining of chronic fatigue and postexertional malaise after mild efforts, documented by CPET. Imaging results were compared with clinical scenarios during acute infection and follow-up. Six out of 14 (42.8%) children showed perfusion defects on 99m Tc-MAA SPECT/CT scan, without morphological alterations on coregistered CT.
This pilot investigation confirmed previous data suggesting that a small subgroup of children can develop lung perfusion defects after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 infection. Larger cohort studies are needed to confirm these preliminary results, providing also a better understanding of which children may deserve this test and how to manage those with lung perfusion defects.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 85. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 21 March 2024.
All research outputs
#537,662
of 26,571,932 outputs
Outputs from Pediatric Pulmonology
#27
of 5,034 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#11,962
of 422,770 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Pediatric Pulmonology
#2
of 133 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 26,571,932 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 98th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 5,034 research outputs from this source. They receive a mean Attention Score of 3.9. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 99% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 422,770 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 97% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 133 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its contemporaries.
