The Covid-19 patients on ventilators can cause permanent nerve damage, said a study posted on the website of Northwestern University (NU) on Wednesday, reports Xinhua.
The severely ill Covid-19 patients are placed in a prone, or face down, position on ventilators and it can cause permanent nerve damage in these patients, said the study, reports Xinhua.
The researchers have seen 20 patients from seven different hospitals with these injuries.
People who have been critically ill are expected to wake up with some generalized, symmetric weakness.
But the pattern of weakness in the COVID-19 patients caught the researchers' attention during rehabilitation since quite often an important joint such as the wrist, ankle or shoulder would be completely paralyzed on one side of the body.
The most common injuries are wrist drops, foot drops, loss of hand function and frozen shoulder.
Some patients had as many as four distinct nerve injury sites.
The researchers believe the nerve damage is the result of reduced blood flow (due to coagulated blood) and inflammation. Other non-COVID-19 patients on ventilators in this position rarely experience any nerve damage.
