Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been shown to cause pathologic aberrancies in the vascular endothelium. We performed dynamic contrast-enhanced (DCE) MRI on participants with prior COVID-19 to assess differences in pulmonary microvascular perfusion compared with healthy volunteers. Significantly reduced peak enhancement, slower rate of contrast arrival, and longer mean transit time were found in COVID-19 survivors compared to healthy controls, indicating reduced microvascular perfusion months after initial SARS-CoV-2 infection. The DCE MRI readouts can potentially be used as quantitative imaging biomarkers of pulmonary vascular change and may provide important insights into COVID-19 microvascular pathobiology and outcome.
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