By Robert Preidt
HealthDay reporter
FRIDAY, February 19, 2021 (HealthDay News) – More than half of a group of COVID-19 patients in the hospital were found to have heart damage after their discharge, according to a new UK study.
The study included 148 patients treated for severe COVID-19 in six London hospitals. All patients had elevated levels of a protein called troponin, which is released into the blood when the heart muscle is injured.
Many hospitalized COVID-19 patients have elevated troponin levels when they are seriously ill and the body has an exaggerated immune response to the infection, the researchers found.
MRIs of the patients’ hearts were performed for at least one month after discharge. The scans showed that 54% had their hearts damaged.
The damage included inflammation of the heart muscle, scarring or death of the heart tissue, and an impaired blood supply to the heart. Some patients had combinations of all three types of damage, the results showed.
The report was published in the European Heart Journal on February 18.
“Elevated troponin levels have been linked to poorer outcomes in COVID-19 patients. Patients with severe COVID-19 disease often have pre-existing heart-related health problems such as diabetes, elevated blood pressure and obesity,” said study co-author Marianna Fontana. She is Professor of Cardiology at University College London.
“However, during severe COVID-19 infection, the heart can also be directly affected. Finding out how the heart can be damaged is difficult, but MRI scans of the heart can identify various patterns of injury that allow us to make more accurate diagnoses and to target treatments more effectively, “said Fontana in a press release.
About a third of the patients had been ventilated in the intensive care unit.
Some of the heart damage in the patients may have been present before they became infected with COVID-19. However, the MRIs showed that some were new and likely caused by COVID-19, according to Fontana.
“Importantly, the pattern of damage to the heart was different, suggesting that the heart is at risk for different types of injury. While we saw only a small amount of persistent injury, we saw an injury to the heart that The pump function was not impaired and may not have been detected by other techniques, “said Fontana.
continuation
In the most severe cases, she added, there are concerns that this injury could increase the risk of heart failure in the future, but more research is needed.
Fontana said the study results offer two possibilities. One is to find ways to prevent the injury from occurring in the first place. “According to some of the patterns we’ve seen, blood clotting may be a factor that we have potential treatments for,” she noted.
Second, identifying the consequences of injury during convalescence can identify individuals who would benefit from specific supportive drug treatments to protect heart function over time, said Fontana.
More information
The American Heart Association has more about COVID-19.
SOURCE: European Heart Journal, press release, February 18, 2021
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