Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2022 Dec;54(1):588-590.
doi: 10.1080/07853890.2022.2039954.

COVID-19-related end stage lung disease: two distinct phenotypes

Kostantinos Kostopanagiotou  1 , Macé M Schuurmans  2   3 , Ilhan Inci  1 , René Hage  2   3
Affiliations

COVID-19-related end stage lung disease: two distinct phenotypes

Kostantinos Kostopanagiotou et al. Ann Med. 2022 Dec.

Abstract

In COVID-19 related end stage lung disease, there are two distinct phenotypes. The first phenotype is the COVID-19 related acute respiratory distress syndrome (CARDS) showing a classical histopathological pattern of fibrotic diffuse alveolar damage (DAD). The second phenotype is the post-COVID pulmonary fibrosis (PCPF), in which the diagnosis is based on the combined clinical, radiological and (if available) pathological information. Both phenotypes have different clinical features, risk factors, biomarkers and pathophysiology. The exact prognosis in these two phenotypes as well as optimal treatment needs further studies.Key messagesTwo different phenotypes exist for COVID-19 related pulmonary fibrosis. The CARDS phenotype has a worse prognosis compared to the PCPF phenotype, which requires longer-term follow-up and evolves without ARDS picture. The best treatment options for the two different phenotypes, such as anti-fibrotic drugs or lung transplantation, still needs to be defined in future studies.

Keywords: Pulmonary fibrosis; hypothesis; lung transplantation; prognosis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

References

    1. King CS, Mannem H, Kukreja J, et al. . Lung transplantation of COVID-19 patients: how I do it. Chest. 2022;161(1):169–178. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Joob B, Wiwanitkit V.. Pulmonary pathology of early phase 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia. J Thorac Oncol. 2020; 15(5):e67. - PMC - PubMed
    1. John AE, Joseph C, Jenkins G, et al. . COVID-19 and pulmonary fibrosis: a potential role for lung epithelial cells and fibroblasts. Immunol Rev. 2021; 302(1):228–240. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Guler SA, Ebner L, Aubry-Beigelman C, et al. . Pulmonary function and radiological features 4 months after COVID-19: first results from the national prospective observational Swiss COVID-19 lung study. Eur Respir J. 2021; 57(4):2003690. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ambardar SR, Hightower SL, Huprikar NA, et al. . Post-COVID-19 pulmonary fibrosis: novel sequelae of the current pandemic. J Clin Med. 2021;(11):10. - PMC - PubMed