Doctors warn that covid-19 can cause persistent eye problems. A new study suggests that some people who survive a serious infection may develop growths in the back of their eyes that could lead to vision loss. It is not yet clear how covid-19 can cause these growths, or if people with softer covid-19 are too at risk of this complication.
Researchers from the French Society of Neuroradiology examined it of the medical history of certain patients with severe covid-19. These patients had obtained a brain MRI at some point in the disease, which allowed researchers to look for possible abnormalities in and around the eye.
In total, they examined data from 129 patients from 16 hospitals who were infected during the first wave of the pandemic in France, between March and May 2020. Nine of these patients (7%) had evidence of nodules in the back of the eyeball, with the majority with growths in both eyes. Eight patients had also been in the intensive care unit.
There have been occasional reports of people with covid-19 with abnormal test results or eye-related health problems such as conjunctivitis (pink eye). But the authors say theirs is the first study trying to estimate how often this could happen through MRI data. The findings should be enough to convince doctors to look for possible eye problems in patients with serious illnesses, they add, mostly because at first they might be difficult to detect.
“Serious eye problems can go unnoticed, as these patients are often treated in intensive care units for much more serious and life-threatening conditions,” they wrote in their article, published Tuesday in the journal Radiology. “Our data support the need for screening and follow-up of these patients to provide appropriate treatment and improve the treatment of potentially serious ophthalmic manifestations.”
G / O Media may receive a commission
The results have their limitations. They cannot conclusively show that having covid-19 caused these eye growths, nor can they explain how it could have happened if the disease were responsible. One theory expressed by the authors is that the infection reached the eyes and directly damaged the retina. Another is that inflammation caused indirectly by infection is the main culprit. Thatit is even possible that the practice of putting patients in the stomach (prone position) –a common intervention that has been shown to help patients breathe more easily“I could have contributed to.” defective drainage of the veins connected to the eye. Pre-existing circulation problems, common in patients with diabetes, may also be a factor.
Researchers are already working on future studies to better understand these possible complications. This includes proactively studying severe covid-19 patients from more recent pandemic waves, who do confirm yes these growths and other eye problems are really the result of the disease and not the previous one, hidden problem. Survivors are also tracked with these growths to see if they have an increased risk for a long time.long-term vision problems. And researchers are conducting a similar study, focusing on patients with mild to moderate covid-19.
“We have launched a prospective study with high-resolution MRI images dedicated to exploring the eye and orbit in patients with mild to moderate COVID,” said Augustin Lecler, a radiologist and associate professor at the University of Paris, in a statement published by the Radiological Society of North America, which publishes Radiology. “Therefore, we will be able to know whether our results were specific to patients with severe COVID or not.”