Lung clip of a patient with COVID-19: “I want people to see this”

With the help of 3D in-body scanning technology, doctors in the United States have shown the lung lesions of a patient with COVID-19.

Dr. Keith Mortman of George Washington University Hospital said the patient has difficulty breathing and people need to take this threat very seriously.

As you see in the video above, the lungs suffer extensive injury. The patient is 59 years old, but also has high blood pressure.

Ever since he became seriously ill, the patient needs a ventilator to help him breathe. But even setting it to maximum is not enough. He also needs another device to circulate and then oxygenate his blood, Mortman explained.

The areas marked with yellow in the video represent infected and inflamed parts of the lung. As you can see, the damage is not located in one area. It covers large areas of both lungs and you can see how quickly and aggressively the disease can develop after contracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

A patient with healthy lungs would have no yellow area on the scan. Apart from high blood pressure, the patient concerned has no other problems. The situation changes dramatically in someone older or with more serious illnesses.

The patient now is in critical condition. And, as the doctor added, for patients with progressive respiratory failure, lung damage is rapid and widespread (as shown in the VR video). Healing can take a long time, and for about 2-4% of patients with COVID-19 the damage is irreversible.