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TUESDAY, Sept. 15, 2020 (HealthDay News)<\/p>\n
Punctured lungs<\/a> occur in as many as 1 in 100 hospitalized COVID-19<\/a> patients, a new study finds.<\/p>\n Before the pandemic, this problem was typically seen in very tall young men or older patients with severe lung disease. But some British researchers noticed that several patients with COVID-19<\/a> developed the condition and decided to investigate.<\/p>\n “We started to see patients affected by a punctured lung, even among those who were not put on a ventilator,” said Stefan Marciniak, a professor at the University of Cambridge Institute of Medical Research.<\/p>\n “To see if this was a real association, I put a call out to respiratory colleagues across the U.K. via Twitter,” Marciniak said in a university news release. “The response was dramatic — this was clearly something that others in the field were seeing.”<\/p>\n The researchers noted that damage to the lungs<\/a> can lead to a puncture. As air leaks out, it builds up in the space between the lung and chest, causing lung collapse<\/a>. This is also called a pneumothorax<\/a>.<\/p>\n For the study, Marciniak analyzed data from 16 hospitals in Britain. He found that 0.91% of their COVID-19<\/a> patients had developed a punctured lung.<\/p>\n Of those patients with a punctured lung, 63% survived, but older patients had an increased risk of death. The survival rate among those younger than 70 was 71%, compared with 42% among those who were older, according to the study. The results are in the Sept. 9 European Respiratory Journal<\/i>.<\/p>\n Patients with abnormally acidic blood, called acidosis, also had poorer outcomes. Acidosis can result from poor lung function.<\/p>\n “Doctors need to be alert to the possibility of a punctured lung in patients with COVID-19<\/a>, even in people who would not be thought to be typical at-risk patients,” Marciniak said.<\/p>\n “Many of the cases we reported were found incidentally — that is, their doctor had not suspected a punctured lung and the diagnosis was made by chance,” he noted.<\/p>\n The researchers said there are a number of ways that COVID-19<\/a> could lead to a punctured lung, including the formation of cysts<\/a> in the lungs.<\/p>\n — Robert Preidt<\/p>\n![\"MedicalNews\"](\"https:\/\/images.medicinenet.com\/images\/HealthDay\/healthday.png\")
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