Re: Apabetalone treatment reduces SARS-CoV-2 infectivity and completely prevents cardiac damage in a cytokine-storm model
posted on
Mar 03, 2021 09:48PM
https://www.heart.org/en/news/2020/09/03/what-covid-19-is-doing-to-the-heart-even-after-recovery
Püntmann fueled concerns about myocarditis when she did just that with COVID-19 patients. Her team used MRI to scan the hearts of 100 COVID-19 patients an average of 71 days after they had tested positive. The scans showed cardiac abnormalities in 78 people, with 60 appearing to have active inflammation. Most also described lingering symptoms, such as fatigue and mild shortness of breath, leading Püntmann to wonder whether heart inflammation might be responsible.
AND:
Others are pursuing clues to how COVID-19 can damage the heart, which might point to ways to head off the damage. “SARS-CoV-2 does challenge your immune system in unconventional ways,” Liu says. Autopsies of heart tissue after COVID-19 have revealed inflammation in the heart’s blood vessels instead of its muscle cells, the site of the inflammation caused by other infections. Another autopsy study found scattered death of heart cells, but the authors noted the mechanism of injury was unknown. “There’s been a lot of discussion whether this is myocarditis” as typically defined, Liu says. Regardless, he and others hope for clinical trials to test whether preventive strategies, such as taking beta blocker drugs, might head off heart failure in someone flagged as high risk after COVID-19.