A recent study has identified reduced blood flow in the lungs as a significant factor contributing to long COVID symptoms in children and adolescents.

Due to concerns over radiation exposure, traditional diagnostic methods like chest CT scans are typically avoided in pediatric patients; instead, pulmonary function tests and echocardiography are used, although these often yield normal results even in symptomatic individuals.

Dr. Gesa H. Pöhler from Hannover Medical School suggests that quantitative lung MRI could serve as a valuable tool for identifying imaging biomarkers that track the severity and progression of this complex condition.

The research team, led by Dr. Pöhler, stresses the necessity for further multicenter longitudinal studies to validate their findings and monitor the progression of lung abnormalities over time.

An editorial by Grace Parraga, PhD, and Sarah Svenningsen, PhD, advocates for the use of PREFUL MRI in evaluating challenging cases of long COVID in children, highlighting its potential benefits.