Information, approach and availability of treatment for patients with Long COVID.
Long COVID treatment at Excellent Care Clinics
Excellent Care Clinics, a Dutch clinic for anesthesiology and pain management, has developed a treatment for long COVID symptoms. This therapy is based on a new formulation and administration method of the well-known medication lidocaine, which is used to reduce long COVID symptoms.
What is Long COVID?
Long COVID, also known as post-COVID or PASC (Post-Acute Sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 infection), is a chronic condition that can be accompanied by a wide range of symptoms, such as severe fatigue, post-exertional malaise (PEM), reduced exercise tolerance, pain, breathlessness and cognitive disorders such as brain fog, concentration problems and sensory overload. These symptoms can persist for months to years and often lead to severe limitations in daily functioning, with absence from work, studies and social activities. This can result in stress, frustration, uncertainty, loss of social contacts and relationship problems. Spontaneous improvement in chronically ill long COVID patients is rare. Worldwide, it is estimated that approximately 450 million people have been affected by prolonged post-COVID symptoms.
Common long COVID symptoms
1
Severe fatigue
2
Concentration problems and brain fog
3
Sensitivity to sound and light
4
Nerve pain
5
Breathing problems
6
POTS (dysregulation of heart rate and blood pressure upon standing)
7
PEM (post-exertional malaise – severe relapse after exertion)
8
Many more symptoms/complaints
Our Treatment
Reduce inflammation and neuro-inflammation
Daily remote monitoring
How does the treatment work?
The treatment at Excellent Care Clinics is based on a therapy that has been used for years for neuropathic pain caused by neuro-inflammation (nerve inflammation). With this original treatment method, patients receive lidocaine intravenously (via the bloodstream). It has long been known that lidocaine is not only a local anesthetic but also has anti-inflammatory properties.
For long COVID, these anti-inflammatory properties are specifically utilized. The idea is that inflammation and neuro-inflammation play an important role in both the development and persistence of the wide range of symptoms that many long COVID patients experience. Because the immune system is largely located in the lymphatic system, this treatment is aimed at targeted delivery of lidocaine to the lymph nodes. To safely and effectively achieve a sufficient concentration there, lidocaine in an adapted formulation is injected just under the skin, near the lymph nodes. This way, an effective dose can be delivered without the risks associated with intravenous administration. This allows the treatment to be safely administered at home.
Practical Implementation
Hospital treatments are generally burdensome for patients. This is especially true for long COVID patients, because even small exertions can lead to post-exertional malaise (PEM): a severe worsening of symptoms that can last for days to weeks. One hospital visit can therefore set someone back rather than help them forward. That is why this treatment has been developed so that it can be safely administered at home.
The treatment consists of daily administration of multiple, virtually painless injections under the skin (subcutaneous). These injections are given near lymph nodes, such as near the groin and armpit.
Support and monitoring via the ECC app: With a specially developed app, the patient remains in easy contact with the physician during treatment:
All data is stored securely and only shared with the treating physician for the purpose of monitoring the treatment.
Treatment location Excellent Care Clinics
ECC currently offers treatments in Velsen-Noord, the Netherlands and is looking for partners and additional locations in the Netherlands and worldwide.
Loading map...
Availability and Costs
Current situation
The lidocaine medication is currently compounded by a specialized pharmacy. This pharmacy specializes in sterile hospital preparations. Due to the limited production scale, the labor-intensive preparation process and the expensive raw materials, producing this medication is costly. Unfortunately, this lidocaine preparation is currently not reimbursed by health insurers.
- Production still on a limited scale
- Medication is not (yet) reimbursed by health insurers
- Medication is costly; treatment is only possible with a personal contribution to medication costs
Future perspective
It is important that treatment with the lidocaine preparation becomes available on a larger scale for long COVID patients. A first and necessary step is reimbursement of the medication by health insurers. Additionally, ECC is working on a collaboration with an international compounding pharmacy that can realize large-scale production of the medication. This makes the treatment not only more widely accessible, but also helps to reduce medication costs. Patients can also contribute by letting their health insurer know that they would like to be eligible for this treatment, provided it is reimbursed. ECC's goal is to:
- Make medication available worldwide
- Lower production costs through large-scale production
Our wish
For Dutch long COVID patients, we want the treatment to become structurally available and reimbursed through basic health insurance, so that everyone who can benefit has access.
Would you like to be treated?
You can register via the contact form:
To stay informed about the availability of treatment
For more information
Contact details
ECC-International
Medical and research team:
C.J. (Cees-Jan) Oostwouder MD
K. (Karin) Vos MD
C.K. (Coen) van Kalken MD, PhD
Parallelweg 2
1948 NM Beverwijk