Organ-specific manifestations of "long COVID"

The COVID-19 pandemic has severely affected the healthcare system across the globe and caused significant morbidity and mortality. The occurrence and importance of the post-COVID-19 sequelae was realized when a sizable proportion of patients appeared to continue suffering from various symptoms for many months and years after having recovered from the acute phase of infection. These complications were observed in multiple organ systems and not only in the respiratory tract. Multidisciplinary efforts are required to manage these patients as the complications are variable in terms of location and severity.

The post COVID-19 condition (long COVID) represents a number of different post-viral syndromes that require an appropriate classification. Collection of a large amount of data is required for all the physical and neuropsychiatric symptoms that persist for more than 12 weeks without an alternative explanation. The process of data collection and analysis should be controlled for all confounding factors including the consequences of intensive care hospitalization, social isolation, and other effects.

The current absence of the effective treatment reflects the unclear causes of the post COVID-19 conditions which cannot be targeted properly until their mechanism is established. Timely collection of data and identification of physiological mechanisms underlying the long-term clinical manifestations of C0VID-19 are vital for the relevant design of effective therapies.