An observational study of 103 patients suggests that an innovative, lidocaine-based treatment reduced Long COVID symptoms. Around 80 percent of participants reported an improvement in perceived recovery Physicians at Excellent Care Clinics had their data analysed for this purpose by researchers at Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and Amsterdam UMC.
The study has been published in eClinicalMedicine, part of Lancet Discovery Science.
Doctors and researchers at the anaesthesiology clinic Excellent Care Clinics carried out a treatment in patients with Long COVID symptoms. These patients self-administered the well-known local anaesthetic lidocaine at home on a daily basis. During the study, patients were monitored remotely using an app and other measurement tools that recorded vital signs.
These results were then documented in an observational study carried out in collaboration with researchers from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam (VU) and Amsterdam UMC. Professor Wendy Scholten-Peeters is involved as principal investigator on behalf of VU. “Patients with Long COVID have been treated at Excellent Care Clinics with lidocaine-based protocols as part of their routine care. Lidocaine is a well-known local anaesthetic that also has anti-inflammatory and immune-modulating properties. The patients were closely monitored, after which these data were analysed by Amsterdam UMC and VU, and under our supervision a scientific article was written.”
Study results
In the study, 103 patients were followed for 24 weeks, with an extension to 36 weeks for the first group of patients. The average age was 48 years, and on average, patients had been struggling with mental and physical symptoms due to Long COVID for two and a half years. Of those treated, around 80 per cent reported an improvement in e perceived recovery after 36 weeks, ranging from small improvements to complete disappearance of symptoms. In some patients, no improvement was seen.
Scholten-Peeters: “A wide range of symptoms and quality of life were mapped in detail over the four weeks prior to the start of treatment. Treatment then began, with patients serving as their own controls. After 24 weeks we observed small effects on quality of life in relation to physical health (for example physical limitations in daily activities) and moderate effects on perceived mental health (for example emotional functioning and vitality) compared with the period before the start of treatment. We also saw that the effects continued to increase over time. Alongside these beneficial effects, the majority of these patients reported non-serious skin problems at the injection site.”
Long COVID
In the Netherlands an estimated 90,000 patients suffer from a severe form of Long COVID. There is as yet no approved therapy. Scholten-Peeters: “Given the large number of people in the Netherlands affected by Long COVID, it is essential to investigate how the treatment works, what the optimal duration of administration is, and in which patients this treatment is most effective. This observational study adds to our knowledge of Long COVID and is also a starting point for further research into this condition and the effectiveness of the treatment, which remains very much needed.”
The full study can be found here. Those involved from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam are: Wendy Scholten-Peeters, Rob Wüst, Ivo Lutke Schipholt, Cees-Jan Oostwouder and Karin Vos.
You can read the study here.
Update: On 23 February, the authors decided to retract the above article. Read here why.