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Among COVID-19 patients who undergo mechanical ventilation, lying in the prone position has been associated with lasting nerve damage.
A new case series describes peripheral nerve injuries associated with this type of positioning and suggests ways to minimize the potential damage.
"Physicians should remain aware of increased susceptibility to peripheral nerve damage in patients with severe COVID-19 after prone positioning, since it is surprisingly common among these patients, and should refine standard protocols accordingly to reduce that risk," senior author Colin Franz, MD, PhD, director of the Electrodiagnostic Laboratory, Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, Chicago, Illinois, told Medscape Medical News.
The article was published online September 4 in the British Journal of Anaesthesiology. Prior to that it was released to the public in preprint form online July 2 with the medRxiv.