Since the earliest published clinical reports on COVID-19, clinicians and researchers have documented significant cardiovascular sequelae in association with the infection. Examples include elevated cardiac biomarkers, myocardial infarction, acute cardiomyopathy, myocarditis, and proarrhythmic and prothrombotic effects. At present, most cardiovascular interventions remain supportive, with biomarker and rhythm monitoring and standard prophylactic anticoagulation as indicated.

A recent New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM) article, "Case 18-2020: A 73-Year-Old-Man with Hypoxemic Respiratory Failure" by Kazi, et al., serves as a useful case study of the cardiovascular complications of COVID-19 and their management. The patient presentation, and subsequent diagnostic approach, differential reasoning and treatment decisions are clinically representative and consistent with current practice. As such, it serves as a useful summation of the frontline experience with cardiac sequalae in severe COVID-19 patients to date.

Clinical Topics: COVID-19 Hub

Keywords: COVID-19, Coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2

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