OAK BROOK, Ill. (May 24, 2022) – A special type of MRI found lung abnormalities in patients who had previously had COVID-19, even those who had not been hospitalized with the illness, according to a new study published in the journal Radiology.

"In a collaboration between the University of Oxford and the University of Sheffield, we have been able to identify abnormalities in the lungs of both hospitalized and non-hospitalized participants using a novel imaging technique, Hyperpolarized Xenon 129MRI, or Hp-XeMRI," said the study's senior author, Fergus Gleeson, M.B.B.S., from the Department of Oncology, University of Oxford and Department of Radiology, Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust. "These abnormalities are not apparent on conventional imaging, and in some individuals were detected up to a year after their initial COVID-19 infection."

Beyond the acute respiratory symptoms of COVID-19 infection, which can result in severe illness, hospitalization and death, the medium and long‐term problems experienced by people following COVID‐19 can be considerable. Symptoms can persist months after initial infection. The presence of ongoing symptoms related to prior COVID-19 infection is known as post-COVID-19 condition, or long COVID. Although over 200 symptoms have been reported, the most common are breathlessness, fatigue and brain fog. Long COVID presents a global health burden, with many people unable to return to normal activities or employment months after becoming unwell.


Hp-XeMRI has shown promise in detecting abnormalities of alveolar gas exchange—where oxygen moves from the lungs to the bloodstream and carbon dioxide passes from the blood to the lungs—even when CT scans and lung function tests were normal. Hp-XeMRI enables the assessment of ventilation and gas exchange into red blood cells. It provides regional information of pulmonary vasculature integrity and may be able to identify lung abnormalities not apparent on CT.

In long COVID, a breathing pattern disorder is commonly identified and contributes to breathlessness in a significant proportion of patients. However, whether there are additional reasons for their breathlessness remains unclear.

"Using Hp-XeMRI may enable us to further understand the cause of breathlessness in long COVID patients, and ultimately lead to better treatments to improve this often debilitating symptom," said study co-author James T. Grist, Ph.D., from University of Oxford Centre for Clinical Magnetic Resonance Research, and the Department of Radiology at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust.

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