Dr. Howard Smith Oncall

  Vidcast:  https://youtu.be/Zd3yQDLjt88   CoVid triggers long-term shortness of breath by damaging the diaphragmatic respiratory muscles.  A study from Northwestern in Chicago reports this finding after their in-depth study of 25 long haulers using precise ultrasonic imaging.   While only 12% of these patients had pre-existing pulmonary disease 80% of them had at least one respiratory muscle structural or functional abnormality. Seventy-six percent had reduced diaphragmatic contractility.   Since only 25% of patients had detectable virus in their respiratory muscles, the researchers blame muscle damage on a combination of factors including high dose steroids, general inflammation, and impaired muscle sugar metabolism.   CoVid patients with persisting breathing challenges should have diaphragmatic ultrasounds.   https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2020.12.10.20244509v1.full.pdf   #covid #breathing #shortnessofbreath #diaphragm