▲ ⓒHallym University Gangnam Sacred Heart Hospital
Hallym University Gangnam Sacred Heart Hospital is operating the ‘Post-Covid-19 Clinic’ that can test and treat long-covid sequelae to help COVID-19 patients recover from daily life.
Long covid refers to long-term suffering from various symptoms such as cough, phlegm, chest pain, difficulty breathing, etc., systemic symptoms such as fatigue and lethargy, nervous system symptoms such as headache, dizziness, and sleep disturbance, and loss of smell and taste following a complete recovery from COVID-19. do.
The post-COVID-19 clinic has the advantage of being able to check blood, chest X-rays, and chest CT scans on the day of treatment, depending on the patient’s symptoms.
Some patients visit the hospital immediately following the 7-day self-quarantine period for COVID-19.
Antiviral drugs, an important treatment in the acute phase of COVID-19, are effective when administered at an early stage of infection. In particular, elderly people or those with underlying medical conditions should be careful because there is a high risk of developing severe COVID-19 pneumonia.
If symptoms do not improve within 4 weeks of suffering from Corona, Long Covid should be suspected. Patients who have been severely ill are more likely to transition to long covid. In addition to pulmonary sequelae such as coughing and shortness of breath, various symptoms such as fatigue, muscle pain, chest pain, and cognitive impairment may appear.
Currently, there are no specific treatment guidelines for long covid, but it is important to receive an accurate diagnosis, and then you can receive help from drug treatment and rehabilitation treatment.
Some patients may have transitioned from COVID-19 infection to organic pneumonia. In this case, steroid treatment rather than antibiotic treatment is helpful. Organizing pneumonia is known to be caused by an inflammatory process caused by a non-specific lung injury associated with a viral infection such as COVID-19.
Professor Kim Sang-hyeok of the Department of Respiratory Medicine at Hallym University Gangnam Sacred Heart Hospital said, “It is of utmost importance to check the cause of the symptoms through examination and establish a correct treatment plan according to an accurate diagnosis.”
