COVID-19 Ventilator Patients can Have Permanent Nerve Damage, Says Study

Severely ill coronavirus patients on ventilators placed in face-down position are more prone to permanent nerve damage, revealed a new study published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia. The nerve damage is the result of decreased blood flow and inflammation. "This is a much higher percentage of patients with nerve damage than we've ever seen in any other critically ill population. Ordinarily, very sick people can tolerate the position that helps their breathing. But COVID patients' nerves can't tolerate the forces other people can generally bear," said study author Colin Franz from Northwestern University in the US.

12 to 15% of the most severely ill COVID-19 patients had permanent nerve damage. Worldwide thousands of patients have been implicated, said the study author. During rehabilitation, the pattern of weakness in the COVID-19 patients had caught researchers' attention, since an important joint such as the wrist, ankle, or shoulder would be completely paralyzed on one side of the body.

Common injuries in critically ill COVID-19 patients include wrist drops, foot drops, loss of hand function, and frozen shoulder. Few patients had as many as four different nerve injury sites. Other patients were seen dragging a foot need assistance with walking, such as a wheelchair, brace, or cane.

"We noticed patients are getting a lot of pressure at the elbow or at the neck, so we've made some adjustments to the way we position the joints as well as putting extra padding under the elbow and the knee where there is the most pressure," Franz said.

Source-Medindia