Respiratory diseases

A COVID-19 patient on the intensive care ward with irreparably damaged lungs was given new lungs on 1 Januari 2021 in the UZ Leuven transplant centre. It is the first time in the Benelux that someone on an intensive care COVID-19 ward gets a lung transplant.

A new trial has shown that COVID-19 causes important changes in the blood veins of the lungs. The deviations in the lungs show that the virus is a lot more harmful than regular influenza.

The department heads of Belgian university hospitals are recommending the use of dry-powder inhalers to lung patients because they can deliver better treatment results for asthma and COPD. Moreover, they are far less damaging to the environment than traditional propellant driven aerosols.