The Rounds

UTHealth Departments of Anesthesia and Emergency Medicine Studying Cardiopulmonary and Neurologic Problems in Long Haul COVID-19 Patients

By Dr. Bentley Bobrow, chair, UTHealth Emergency Medicine

While most patients recover from the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) infection, a dramatically high proportion of COVID-19-survivors continue to experience myriad symptoms beyond the usual recovery time and a minority of patients may be disproportionately impacted. These residual symptoms, called post-acute sequelae, are reported in different organ systems including the lungs, heart, kidney, liver, and central nervous system, and can adversely impact overall quality of life for many months and possibly even permanently. Several studies indicate that up to 40% of hospitalized patients with COVID-19 pneumonia go on to experience long-term difficulty breathing. Another recent study showed that 6 months after acute infection, COVID-19 survivors continued to also experience impairment in myocardial and renal function as well as prolonged severe fatigue, muscle weakness, sleep difficulties, anxiety, and depression. The UTHealth COVID-19 ARDS Research Team lead by Dr. Holger Eltschig’s basic science research lab and The Texas Emergency Medicine Research Center’s translational research team are now studying the long-term impact of COVID-19 and specifically the potential effect of the hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) medication Vadadustat on organ injury and overall recovery. This long-term study will follow COVID-19 survivors for 2 years and conduct echocardiograms, pulmonary function tests, biomarkers, and quality of life surveys on subjects to better understand COVID-19 and how to help people fully recover and minimize morbidity for everyone. To date, the primary randomized study has enrolled approximately 410 patients at four Memorial Hermann Hospitals and Lyndon B. Johnson Hospital and the long-term follow-up study has a goal of completing 105 enrollments.