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COVID-19 convalescents repeatedly and age\/sex-matched healthy controls once underwent MRI including hyperpolarized <jats:sup>129<\/jats:sup>Xe MRI. Blood samples were obtained in COVID-19 convalescents for immunophenotyping. Ratios of <jats:sup>129<\/jats:sup>Xe in red blood cells (RBC), tissue\/plasma (TP), and gas phase (GP) as well as lung surface-volume ratio were quantified and correlations with CD4<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>\/CD8<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> T cell frequencies were assessed using Pearson\u2019s correlation coefficient. Signed-rank tests were used for longitudinal and <jats:italic>U<\/jats:italic> tests for group comparisons.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>Thirty-five participants were recruited. Twenty-three COVID-19 convalescents (age 52.1\u2009\u00b1\u200919.4\u00a0years, 13 men) underwent baseline MRI 12.6\u2009\u00b1\u20094.2\u00a0weeks after symptom onset. Fourteen COVID-19 convalescents underwent follow-up MRI and 12 were included for longitudinal comparison (baseline MRI at 11.5\u2009\u00b1\u20092.7\u00a0weeks and follow-up 38.0\u2009\u00b1\u20095.5\u00a0weeks). Twelve matched controls were included for comparison. In COVID-19 convalescents, RBC-TP was increased at follow-up (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.04). Baseline RBC-TP was lower in patients treated on intensive care unit (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.03) and in patients with severe\/critical disease (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.006). RBC-TP correlated with CD4<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup>\/CD8<jats:sup>+<\/jats:sup> T cell frequencies (<jats:italic>R<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.61\/\u2009\u2212\u20090.60) at baseline. RBC-TP was not significantly different compared to matched controls at follow-up (<jats:italic>p<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u20090.25).<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>Impaired microvascular pulmonary perfusion and alveolar membrane function persisted 12\u00a0weeks after symptom onset and resolved within 38\u00a0weeks after COVID-19 symptom onset.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Clinical relevance statement<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p><jats:sup>129<\/jats:sup>Xe MRI shows improvement of microvascular pulmonary perfusion and alveolar membrane function between 11.5\u2009\u00b1\u20092.7\u00a0weeks and 38.0\u2009\u00b1\u20095.5\u00a0weeks after symptom onset in patients after COVID-19, returning to normal in subjects without significant prior disease.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec><jats:sec>\n                <jats:title>Key Points<\/jats:title>\n                <jats:p>\u2022 <jats:italic>The study aims to investigate long-term effects of COVID-19 on lung function, in particular gas uptake efficiency, and on the cardiovascular system<\/jats:italic>.<\/jats:p>\n                <jats:p>\u2022 <jats:italic>In COVID-19 convalescents, the ratio of <\/jats:italic><jats:sup><jats:italic>129<\/jats:italic><\/jats:sup><jats:italic>Xe in red blood cells\/tissue plasma increased longitudinally (p<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u2009<jats:italic>0.04), but was not different from matched controls at follow-up (p<\/jats:italic>\u2009=\u2009<jats:italic>0.25)<\/jats:italic>.<\/jats:p>\n                <jats:p>\u2022 <jats:italic>Microvascular pulmonary perfusion and alveolar membrane function are impaired 11.5\u00a0weeks after symptom onset in patients after COVID-19, returning to normal in subjects without significant prior disease at 38.0\u00a0weeks<\/jats:italic>.<\/jats:p>\n              <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.1007\/s00330-024-10669-9","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,9]],"date-time":"2024-03-09T05:01:21Z","timestamp":1709960481000},"page":"6502-6513","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1007\/springer_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":5,"title":["Alveolar membrane and capillary function in COVID-19 convalescents: insights from chest MRI"],"prefix":"10.1007","volume":"34","author":[{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0003-4157-9808","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Agilo Luitger","family":"Kern","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Isabell","family":"Pink","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Agnes","family":"Bonifacius","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Till","family":"Kaireit","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Milan","family":"Speth","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Lea","family":"Behrendt","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Filip","family":"Klime\u0161","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Andreas","family":"Voskrebenzev","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jens M.","family":"Hohlfeld","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Marius M.","family":"Hoeper","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Tobias","family":"Welte","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Frank","family":"Wacker","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Britta","family":"Eiz-Vesper","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jens","family":"Vogel-Claussen","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"297","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2024,3,9]]},"reference":[{"key":"10669_CR1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"568","DOI":"10.1002\/jmv.25748","volume":"92","author":"Y Wang","year":"2020","unstructured":"Wang Y, Wang Y, Chen Y, Qin Q (2020) Unique epidemiological and clinical features of the emerging 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) implicate special control measures. 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