Analysis on Pulmonary Function Changes in Severe SARS Patients during the Two-and-a-Half Years Convalescence
重症SARS中西医结合治疗康复者病后2年半肺功能变化分析

This paper aimed to investigate the change of pulmonary function for severe acute respiratory syndrome(SARS) convalescent patients.Twenty severe SARS convalescent patients who had been released from hospital for two-and-a-half years were followed up.The follow-up research included pulmonary function test and chest CT at one-and-a-half years and two-and-a-half years for the study of pulmonary function recovery and chest radiology.The comparison was made on pulmonary function test and chest CT among severe SARS patients,healthy control group and the community-acquired pneumonia(CAP) group.The results showed that in the follow-up of one-and-a-half years,the abnormal changes of pulmonary function were found in 14 out of 20 patients.The main disorder was impaired pulmonary diffusion capacity for carbon monoxide(DLco 56.34 ±15.96).Seven of 20 severe SARS convalescent patients were found abnormal changes in the chest CT.The comparison between the follow-up of two-and-a-half years among 20 severe SARS convalescent patients and the CAP group showed no significant difference.Comparing to the healthy control group,significant difference of DLco was detected.It is concluded that in convalescent stage,the impaired pulmonary function of severe SARS convalescent patients may recover gradually,but the improvement of DLco was comparatively slow.The recovery of chest radiology may be earlier than the recovery of impaired pulmonary function.