Attapon Cheepsattayakorn1,3*, Ruangrong Cheepsattayakorn2, Porntep Siriwanarangsun3
110th Zonal Tuberculosis and Chest Disease Center, Chiang Mai, Thailand
2Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, Thailand
3Faculty of Medicine, Western University, Pathumtani Province, Thailand
*Corresponding authors: Attapon Cheepsattayakorn, 10th Zonal Tuberculosis and Chest Disease Center, 143 Sridornchai Road Changklan Muang Chiang Mai 50100 Thailand.
Received: August 02, 2021
Accepted: August 27, 2021
Published: August 31, 2021
Citation: Attapon Cheepsattayakorn, Ruangrong Cheepsattayakorn, Porntep Siriwanarangsun. “Cardiovascular Post-Acute-COVID-19-Illness Sequelae”. Clinical Research and Clinical Case Reports, 2(1); DOI: http;//doi.org/04.2021/1.1027
Copyright: © 2021 Attapon Cheepsattayakorn. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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At 60 days of the following-up, chest pain was present around 20 % of the COVID-19 survivors [1, 2], whereas at 6 months following-up in the post-acute-COVID-19 Chinese study revealed ongoing chest pain and palpitations in 5 % and 9 % of the COVID-19 survivors, respectively [3]. Ongoing myocardial inflammation may occur at the rates as high as 60 % more than two months after the diagnosis by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) [4]. The perpetuated mechanisms in post-acute-COVID-19-illness cardiovascular sequelae include SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) viral invasion, the immunologic response and inflammation affecting the structural integrity of the cardiac conduction system, pericardium, and myocardium, and downregulation of ACE 2. Autopsy studies in 39 COVID-19 cases (62.5 %) revealed SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) viral particles in the cardiac tissues [5] that may contribute to the cardiomyocyte death and fibro-fatty displacement of desmosomal proteins that is critical for cell-to-cell adherence [6, 7]. Persistently increased cardiometabolic demand may be occur in recovered COVID-19 patients that may be related to decreased cardiac reserve, dysregulation of the renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) [8]. SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) can induce heightened catecholaminergic state due to cytokine storming from particular cytokines, such as IL-1, IL-6, and TNF-α, that can prolong ventricular action potentials by modulating cardiomyocyte ion channel expression [9], in addition to the induction of resultant cardiomyopathy from SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) infection, and myocardial scarring or fibrosis that can contribute to re-entrant cardiac arrhythmias [10]. After SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) illness, autonomic dysfunction can result in inappropriate sinus tachycardia and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome, that has been demonstrated as a resulting adrenergic modulation [11, 12]. Abstinence from aerobic activities or competitive sports for 3-6 months until resolution of myocardial inflammation by normalization of the troponin levels or cardiac MRI and serial echocardiogram, electrocardiogram, and cardiac MRI may be considered in competitive athletes with post-acute-COVID-19-related cardiovascular complications [13, 14] and in those with persistent cardiac symptoms [15, 16]. In a previously retrospective study among 3,080 COVID-19 patients revealed that withdrawal of cardiac-guidelines-directed medical treatment was related to higher mortality in the acute to post-acute-COVID-19 illness phases [17]. Potential harmfulness may be occur in the abrupt cessation of the use of RAAS inhibitors [18]. A low-dose beta blocker for decreasing adrenergic activity and heart rate management and anti-arrhythmic drugs (such as amiodarone) are recommended with attention in post-acute-COVID-19-illness patients with postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome [19] and with pulmonary fibrotic changes following COVID-19 illness [20], respectively.
In conclusion, more follow-up is needed to determine risk-over-time resolution, particularly cardiovascular risk in patients with pre-existing conditions due to sustained- and increased-clinical-sequelae risk is frequently identified from 4 weeks to 4 months after the acute-COVID-19- illness phase.