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Review
. 2020 Apr-Jun;16(2):146-154.
doi: 10.14797/mdcj-16-2-146.

Cardiovascular Implications of COVID-19 Infections

Akanksha N Thakkar  1 , Isaac Tea  1 , Mouaz H Al-Mallah  1
Affiliations
Review

Cardiovascular Implications of COVID-19 Infections

Akanksha N Thakkar et al. Methodist Debakey Cardiovasc J. 2020 Apr-Jun.

Abstract

Since early 2020, the world has been facing a pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. Although this positive single-stranded RNA virus primarily causes pulmonary infection and failure, it has been associated with multiple cardiovascular diseases including troponin elevation, myocarditis, and cardiac arrhythmias. Cardiac patients are susceptible to developing more severe infection from SARS-COV-2, making management complicated. In this review we discuss the cardiac manifestations of COVID-19 infections as well as considerations for the management of primary cardiac pathologies during this pandemic.

Keywords: ACE inhibitors; COVID-19; angiotensin receptor blockers; arrhythmias; cardiovascular imaging; coagulopathy; organ transplant; troponin.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Disclosure: The authors have completed and submitted the Methodist DeBakey Cardiovascular Journal Conflict of Interest Statement and none were reported.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Representative chest computed tomography of a patient who was admitted with COVID-19.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Schematic representing the cardiovascular manifestations of COVID-19. CA: coronary artery; VV ECMO: veno-venous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation; VA ECMO: veno-arterial ECMO; ACS: acute coronary syndrome; TTE: transesophageal echocardiogram; CTA: computed tomography angiography; TdP: Torsades de Pointes; RV: right ventricular
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Proposed mechanism of cardiovascular (CV) damage by SARS-CoV-2. ACE2: angiotensin-converting enzyme 2
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Common causes for elevated troponin level in patients with COVID-19. MI: myocardial infarction; ACS: acute coronary syndrome
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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