Low-field Magnetic Resonance Imaging to Assess Changes in Pulmonary Function Parameters in Confirmed Pediatric SARS-CoV-2 Infection

SARS-CoV-2 (Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2) is a new coronavirus and identified causative agent of COVID-19 disease. They predominantly cause mild colds but can sometimes cause severe pneumonia and pulmonary skeletal disease. While the molecular basis for the changes in lung tissue or multi-organ involvement have been described, the age-specific long-term consequences, especially in children and adolescents, remain largely unexplained and misunderstood today.

Early publications from the primarily affected Chinese provinces described rather mild, partly asymptomatic courses in children. This is consistent with the observation that the risk of severe COVID-19 disease increases steeply from the age of 70 years, and is also determined by the severity of obesity as well as other risk factors. Developmental expression of tissue factors may be one reason for the relative protection of younger patients from severe courses of the disease.

However, it is now becoming increasingly clear that some individuals with milder initial symptoms of COVID-19 may suffer from variable and persistent symptoms for many months after initial infection - this includes children. A modern low-field MRI is located in Erlangen, Germany. This technique has already been used to demonstrate persistent damage to lung tissue in adult patients after COVID-19. The device with a field strength of 0.55 Tesla (T) currently has the world's largest aperture (and is thus particularly suitable for patients with claustrophobia, among other things), a very quiet operating noise, and lower energy absorption in the tissue due to the weaker magnetic field than MRI scanners with 1.5T or 3T. This allows MRI imaging in a very broad pediatric population without the need for sedation.

To date, no structural changes were revealed by means of this MRI technique - however, large defects in the area of ventilation and blood flow function of the lung are apparent in specific functional sequences. The aim of this study is to assess the course of these functional lung changes in pediatric and adolescent patients and to validate them with other standard clinical procedures.