The heart’s ability to contract and relax with each breath determines whether it functions normally. Doctors can measure this ability — also known as global left ventricular longitudinal load — after performing an echocardiography test. A healthy heart should have a reading of -20% to show that the muscles are supplying enough oxygen by contracting and relaxing lengthwise.
In a recent study of 60 lung Covid patients, researchers noted that nearly half of them or 48% had lower readings that averaged around -17.8% – proving that their heart function had improved even three months after being infected. hit with SARS, was affected. CoV-2 virus.
Long Covid is characterized by symptoms such as chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalitis, difficulty breathing, brain fog, mental illnesses such as depression and anxiety, loss of smell and/or taste, persistent cough and body aches. In an effort to address these issues, Israel-based researchers offered hyperbaric oxygen therapy to 60 long Covid patients in a randomized trial. This therapy involves being in a pressurized environment while breathing 100% pure oxygen. In this way, most body tissues are rejuvenated with adequate oxygen supply. After an infection that causes inflammation or an injury, the tissues tend to receive insufficient or extremely low levels of oxygen, which slows down the body’s healing process.
The treatment is usually prescribed for people who experience decompression sickness after diving. Hyperbaric oxygen therapy is also used to remove air bubbles in blood vessels and treat open wounds.
Of the 29 patients with impaired cardiac function, 16 underwent hyperbaric oxygen therapy. The other 13 were in the “sham group” where they received only 21% pure oxygen through a mask during their treatment.
The team found that the 16 tall Covid patients experienced an improvement in their heart function. Each of them received 40 sessions of hyperbaric oxygen therapy over an eight-week period. Through a mask they were exposed to 100% pure oxygen for 90 minutes. That included five-minute breaks after every 20 minutes of oxygen therapy.
After hyperbaric oxygen therapy, their left ventricular global longitudinal load levels, which had previously been 17.8%, shot up to -20.2 percent. While those in the sham group only reported an increase to -19.1 percent.
The findings suggest that hyperbaric oxygen therapy promotes recovery of heart function in patients with post-COVID syndrome. More research is needed to gather long-term results and determine the optimal number of sessions for maximum therapeutic effect,” said Marina Leitman of the Sackler School of Medicine at Tel Aviv University, Israel, in a press release.
The team presented their findings at the 2023 conference of the European Society of Cardiology called EACVI Congress in Barcelona on May 12.
“We used a sensitive measure of heart function that is not routinely performed in all centers. More studies are needed to determine which patients will benefit most, but all long-term COVID patients may need to have a global longitudinal load assessment and hyperbaric oxygen therapy if heart function is impaired,” added Leitman please.