The new Northwestern University study, published on February 17 in the journal Skeletal Radiology, detailed how various types of images, including ultrasound, x-rays, MRIs and CT scans, can confirm how the body attacks itself.
“What we found is that in some patients with COVID-19, the virus triggers an autoimmune reaction. In other words, the virus tricks the body into attacking itself,” said Dr. Swati Deshmukh, author and assistant professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
When the body attacks itself, X-ray images, some using contrasts, can show inflamed nerves or dead tissue, the study showed.
It also shows how the impact of COVID-19 can last for months, which is what Tajma Hodzic, 31, of Albany Park, is experiencing now. She fought COVID-19 in June 2020, but its impact was long-lasting, triggering an autoimmune disease called COVID-induced psoriatic arthritis.
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“My entire body and all the joints in my body were inflamed. I couldn’t get out of bed. I couldn’t do anything on my own. I couldn’t bathe, eat and walk,” recalled Hodzic. Pain sent her to the hospital for the second time in 2020.
Hodzic explains psoriatic arthritis in this way: “It is an autoimmune disease. It has two parts. The part of psoriasis is the spots and rashes on my body. Arthritis is what we think of, arthritis as a chronic condition.”
Radiological images require a specialist look to understand. Dr. Deshmukh studied several images of other patients with COVID-19, including inflamed nerves, dead and damaged tissues, blood clots and damaged joints.
Overall, these images can help doctors make medical decisions for their patients, she said.
“Based on what the images show, we can recommend the best next steps for diagnosis, treatment and management through this long road to recovery,” said Dr. Deshmukh. “For this reason, radiologists are sometimes referred to as the doctor’s doctor.”
Although imaging tests help explain the problem, Hodzic is still concerned about the future and what it means for his recovery, especially since he is now taking medications to control psoriatic arthritis.
“We don’t know. We don’t know if this is going to last as long as I live, next year, two years, five years,” she said. “Or if I can get rid of the medication. It’s a big question now.”
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