The Heart in COVID-19. Primary Target or Secondary Bystander?

In the throes of the current coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, interest has burgeoned in the cardiovascular complications of this virulent viral infection. As troponin, a biomarker of cardiac injury, often rises in hospitalized patients, its interpretation and actionability require careful consideration. Fulminant myocarditis due to direct viral infection can certainly occur, but in patients with increased oxygen demands due to tachycardia and fever and reduced oxygen delivery due to hypotension and hypoxemia, COVID-19 disease can cause myocardial injury indirectly…

Cardiovascular Considerations for the Internist and Hospitalist in the COVID-19 Era

It is clear that existing cardiovascular disease is a major risk factor for COVID-19 and related adverse outcomes. In addition to acute respiratory syndrome, a large cohort also develop myocardial or vascular dysfunction, in part from inflammation and renin angiotensin system activation with increased sympathetic outflow, cardiac arrhythmias, ischemia, heart failure, and thromboembolic complications that portend poor outcomes related to COVID-19…

Covid e Cuore: le molte facce del problema

L’insufficienza respiratoria acuta configurata dalla SARS CoV2 può determinare danno miocardico ipossico, testimoniato dal rilascio di biomarcatori come la troponina I ed i peptidi natriuretici. Ciò è particolarmente frequente quando i profili di comorbidità condizionano coronaropatie o ipertrofia miocardica o cardiopatie di varia eziologia…

Vascular Disease Patient Information Page: COVID–19-related thrombosis

COVID-19 can vary from causing no symptoms in some people to a life-threatening illness requiring intensive care and mechanical ventilation in others. COVID-19 affects the body in many different ways, including causing blood clots such as DVTs and PEs. Thrombosis in COVID-19 may be due to direct damage to blood vessels, ‘out-of-control’ inflammation, or other mechanisms that are not completely understood…

Cardiology and COVID-19

The initial reports on the epidemiology of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) emanating from Wuhan, China, offered an ominous forewarning of the risks of severe complications in elderly patients and those with underlying cardiovascular disease, including the development of acute respiratory distress syndrome, cardiogenic shock, thromboembolic events, and death…

COVID-19 Guida Medica Clinico-Pratica FADOI

“Lontani, ma troppo vicini”. Questa in estrema sintesi la situazione che appena un mese fa sembrava toccarci solo marginalmente. Il vento della globalizzazione che ha rivoluzionato le nostre società con continui stravolgimenti, regalandoci in particolare la facilità di viaggiare annullando le distanze tra i diversi continenti, alla fine si è trasformato nella tempesta perfetta contro la nostra stessa Civiltà…

A living WHO guideline on drugs for covid-19

CLINICAL QUESTION What is the role of drug interventions in the treatment of patients with covid-19?
 NEW RECOMMENDATION
The latest version of this WHO living guidance focuses on remdesivir, following the 15 October 2020 preprint publication of results from the WHO SOLIDARITY trial. It contains a weak or conditional recommendation against the use of remdesivir in hospitalised patients with covid-19…

Point-of-care ultrasound in the COVID-19 era: A scoping review

In the midst of the COVID‐19 pandemic, unprecedented pressure has been added to healthcare systems around the globe. Imaging is a crucial component in the management of COVID‐19 patients. Point‐of‐care ultrasound (POCUS) such as hand‐carried ultrasound emerges in the COVID‐19 era as a tool that can simplify the imaging process of COVID‐19 patients, and potentially reduce the strain on healthcare providers and healthcare resources…