The new Northwestern University study, published Feb. 17 in the journal Skeletal Radiology, detailed how various types of images, such as ultrasounds, X-rays, MRIs and computed tomography, can confirm how the body attacks himself.
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“What we have found is that in some patients with COVID-19, the virus causes an autoimmune reaction. In other words, the virus tricks the body into attacking itself,” Dr. Swati Deshmukh, author and assistant professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
When the body is attacked, radiological images, some in contrast, can show inflamed nerves or dead tissue, according to the study.
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It also shows how the impact of COVID-19 can last for months, which is what Tajma Hodzik, 31, of Albany Park, is experiencing right now. He fought COVID-19 in June 2020, but its impact has been lasting, causing an autoimmune disease called COVID-induced psoriatic arthritis.
“My whole body and all the joints of my body were inflamed. I couldn’t get out of bed. I couldn’t do anything independently. I couldn’t shower, eat while walking,” Hodzik recalled. The pain sent her to the hospital for the second time in 2020.
Hodzik explains psoriatic arthritis this way: “It’s an autoimmune disease. It’s two-part. The psoriasis piece is the spots and rashes on my body. Arthritis is what we think, arthritis as a disease chronicle “.
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Radiological images need to understand the eyes of an expert. Dr. Deshmukh studied several images of other patients with COVID-19, including inflamed nerves, dead and damaged tissues, blood clots, and damaged joints.
Overall, these images can help doctors make medical decisions for their patients, he said.
“As the picture shows, we can recommend the next best steps for diagnosis, treatment, and management through this long road to recovery,” Dr. Deshmukh said. “For this reason, radiologists are nicknamed the doctor’s doctor.”
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While the image helps explain the problem, Hodzic continues to worry about the future and what it means for his recovery, especially because he is now taking medication to control his psoriatic arthritis.
“We don’t know. We don’t know if this will last as long as it lives, next year, two years, five years,” he said. “Or if I can get rid of the medication. Now it’s a pretty big unknown.”
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