ORANGE, Calif. (KABC) — An estimated 100 million Americans have had COVID-19.

For most, particularly those that have been vaccinated, the sickness means just a few days of aches, pains and fatigue.

But for some, the signs simply do not go away.

They are known as COVID lengthy haulers.

And now a brand new scanning know-how helps docs diagnose and deal with these with lengthy COVID.

Amy Dutrisac is a type of COVID lengthy haulers who benefited from the brand new know-how.

She and her household all got here down with COVID. But her daughter and husband began to really feel higher inside just a few days.

Not Amy.

“I had no energy,” she says. “My lungs were aching, I had a horrible cough. It was scary.”

Amy was one of many first to endure a brand new FDA-cleared four-dimensional scan of her lungs. It’s known as four-dimensional as a result of it provides the aspect of time, exhibiting how the lungs transfer because the affected person breathes. It additionally gives a variety of different superior diagnostic information.

“It actually can measure air coming from your upper lung on the right, lower lung on the right, upper and left lower lung,” stated Dr. Ray Casciari, a pulmonary specialist with Providence St. Joseph Hospital in Orange.

The XV technology makes use of fluoroscopy, which is on the market in most hospitals, however the brand new software program algorithms convert the scans, permitting docs to see defects attributable to lengthy COVID.

With diagnostic assist from the superior scans, Dutrisac has undergone profitable remedies.

She’s now respiration straightforward and free from all of her signs.

“I honestly don’t know what would’ve happened to me if I hadn’t had the scan,” she stated.

Because there’s little or no radiation and the price is comparatively low – about $500 per scan – the scan might be repeated a number of instances.

Patients who are usually not handled efficiently for lengthy COVID might see a lifetime of respiratory issues and even the event of situations like grownup onset bronchial asthma.