Post-COVID Center
Nearly one in ten persons infected with SARS-CoV-2 is still struggling with persistent or new symptoms weeks or months after acute virus infection. These include, for example, severe fatigue after exertion as well as exhaustion, shortness of breath, concentration and memory problems, anxiety and depressive moods. In order to offer patients with severe and complex disease progression a central point of contact, the Post-COVID Center at Erlangen University Hospital opened in December 2022.
In an interdisciplinary team of three disciplines (Department of Psychosomatic Medicine and Psychotherapy, Department of Internal Medicine 3 - Rheumatology and Immunology, Department of Ophthalmology), patients receive comprehensive interdisciplinary diagnostics, information about the disease and treatment options and therapy recommendations, taking into account the preliminary findings of general practitioners and specialists who admit patients to the center. Diagnostics include tests to assess cognitive performance, recording of the symptoms in connection with post-COVID using online questionnaires (patient reported outcomes, PROMs), a psychosomatic and an immunological examination. The ophthalmological examination (optical coherence tomography angiography (OCT-A)) focuses the small blood vessels of the macula, the center of sharp vision in the eye. In addition, a translational approach is conducted, which gives patients the opportunity to be included in scientific studies and benefit directly from the research results. Aftercare for patients is ensured through online follow-up examinations with PROMs and online seminars, in which questions about the personal course of disease can be asked.
Key research areas at the Post-COVID Center
