Residual lung damage following ARDS in COVID-19 ICU survivors.

"CONFLICTS OF INTEREST All the authors have disclosed that they do NOT have any conflicts of interest or source of funding."

"All the authors have disclosed that they do NOT have any conflicts of interest or source of funding."

"This investigation is part of the COVID‐BioB study carried out at the San Raffaele University Hospital in Milan, Italy to identify predictors of COVID‐19 severity, mortality and treatment response and to identify subgroups of patients that might benefit from specific therapeutic interventions. The study methodology has been described., , , The study comprises, in addition to a thorough assessment of COVID‐19 patients at hospital admission, the follow‐up in a dedicated outpatient clinic of survivors at 4, 12 and 24 weeks after discharge., The study was approved by the hospital Ethics Committee (protocol No. 34/int/2020) and was registered on ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT04318366). Adult patients with confirmed SARS‐CoV‐2 infection (defined as positive real‐time reverse‐transcriptase polymerase chain reaction from a nasal and/or throat swab along with signs, symptoms and radiological findings suggestive of COVID‐19 pneumonia) were admitted to an ICU at the San Raffaele Scientific Institute for ARDS between 25 February and 27 April 2020 received at least one day of invasive ventilation and were discharged before 10 June were included. Demographical data, including age, gender and ethnicity, comorbidities, body mass index (BMI), clinical and laboratory presentation of COVID‐19 were assessed. Preliminary analysis of radiological results at hospital admission of COVID‐BioB patients has been published., , , The patients were managed according to recommendations on protective mechanical ventilation and pharmacological treatment of ARDS. After the discharge from the ICU, previously mechanically ventilated COVID‐19 patients were evaluated at the COVID19 Follow‐up Outpatient Clinic of the San Raffaele University Hospital and offered radiological and functional follow‐up."