Skip to content
Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

Primary Menu Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

Hindi News, हिंदी समाचार, Samachar, Breaking News, Latest Khabar – Pratirodh

  • Home
  • Newswires
  • Politics & Society
  • The New Feudals
  • World View
  • Arts And Aesthetics
  • For The Record
  • About Us
  • Featured

Heart Damage Found In Over 50% Severe Covid-19 Patients

Feb 19, 2021 | Pratirodh Bureau

FILE PHOTO: A medical worker takes care of a patient suffering from the coronavirus disease at the Intensive Care Unit of a hospital in Noida on September 15, 2020

Around 50% of patients who have been hospitalised with severe COVID-19 and who have raised levels of a protein called troponin show damage to their hearts.

The injury was detected by magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans at least a month after discharge, according to new findings published on Thursday in the European Heart Journal.

Damage includes inflammation of the heart muscle (myocarditis), scarring or death of heart tissue (infarction), restricted blood supply to the heart (ischaemia) and combinations of all three.

The study of 148 patients from six acute hospitals in London is the largest study to date to investigate convalescing COVID-19 patients who had raised troponin levels, indicating a possible problem with the heart.

Troponin is released into the blood when the heart muscle is injured. Raised levels can occur when an artery becomes blocked or there is inflammation of the heart.

Many patients who are hospitalised with COVID-19 have raised troponin levels during the critical illness phase, when the body mounts an exaggerated immune response to the infection.

Troponin levels were elevated in all the patients in this study, who were then followed up with MRI scans of the heart after discharge in order to understand the causes and extent of the damage.

Professor Marianna Fontana, professor of cardiology at University College London (UK), who led the research together with Dr. Graham Cole, a consultant cardiologist at Imperial College London, said: “Raised troponin levels are associated with worse outcomes in COVID-19 patients. Patients with severe COVID-19 disease often have pre-existing heart-related health problems including diabetes, raised blood pressure, and obesity.”

“During severe COVID-19 infection, however, the heart may also be directly affected. Unpicking how the heart can become damaged is difficult, but MRI scans of the heart can identify different patterns of injury, which may enable us to make more accurate diagnoses and to target treatments more effectively,” added Fontana.

The researchers investigated COVID-19 patients discharged up until June 2020 from six hospitals across three NHS London trusts: Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, Imperial College Healthcare NHS Trust, and University College London Hospital NHS Foundation Trust.

Patients who had abnormal troponin levels were offered an MRI scan of the heart after discharge and were compared with those from a control group of patients who had not had COVID-19, as well as from 40 healthy volunteers.

“The recovering COVID-19 patients had been very ill; all required hospitalisation and all had troponin elevation, with around one in three having been on a ventilator in the intensive care unit,” said Prof. Fontana.

“We found evidence of high rates of heart muscle injury that could be seen on the scans a month or two after discharge. Whilst some of this may have been pre-existing, MRI scanning shows that some were new, and likely caused by COVID-19. Importantly, the pattern of damage to the heart was variable, suggesting that the heart is at risk of different types of injury. While we detected only a small amount of ongoing injury, we saw injury to the heart that was present even when the heart’s pumping function was not impaired and might not have been picked up by other techniques. In the most severe cases, there are concerns that this injury may increase the risks of heart failure in the future, but more work is needed to investigate this further.”

The function of the heart’s left ventricle, the chamber that is responsible for pumping oxygenated blood to all parts of the body, was normal in 89 percent of the 148 patients but scarring or injury to the heart muscle was present in 80 patients (54%). The pattern of tissue scarring or injury originated from inflammation in 39 patients (26%), ischaemic heart disease, which includes infarction or ischaemia, in 32 patients (22%), or both in nine patients (6%). Twelve patients (8%) appeared to have ongoing heart inflammation.

Prof. Fontana said: “Injury relating to inflammation and scarring of the heart is common in COVID-19 patients with troponin elevation discharged from hospital, but is of limited extent and has little consequence for the heart’s function.

“These findings give us two opportunities: firstly, to find ways of preventing the injury in the first place, and from some of the patterns we have seen, blood clotting may be playing a role, for which we have potential treatments. Secondly, detecting the consequences of injury during convalescence may identify subjects who would benefit from specific supporting drug treatments to protect heart function over time.”

The findings of the study are limited by the nature of patient selection and included only those who survived a coronavirus infection that required hospital admission.

“The convalescent patients in this study had severe COVID-19 disease and our results say nothing about what happens to people who are not hospitalised with COVID, or those who are hospitalised but without elevated troponin. The findings indicate potential ways to identify patients at higher or lower risk and suggest potential strategies that may improve outcomes. More work is needed, and MRI scans of the heart have shown how useful it is in investigating patients with troponin elevation,” concluded Prof. Fontana.

Tags: coronavirus, COVID-19, heart function, heart health, Pratirodh

Continue Reading

Previous Air Pollution Led To 54,000 Premature Deaths In Delhi
Next India Coronavirus Infections At Three-Week High

More Stories

  • Featured

‘Why Were Grave Red Flags Ignored?’ Kharge To PM Modi

7 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Taj City Activists March To Highlight Plight Of Dying Yamuna

9 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Climate Change’s Dangerous New Fires

11 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau

Recent Posts

  • ‘Why Were Grave Red Flags Ignored?’ Kharge To PM Modi
  • Taj City Activists March To Highlight Plight Of Dying Yamuna
  • Climate Change’s Dangerous New Fires
  • “He Is Driving Indian Car Looking In Rear-View Mirror, It’s Crashing”
  • How A Drought-Prone Maha Village Attained Agri Success With Millets
  • Odisha Train Crash: Opp Flags Questions Over Passenger Safety
  • UN Talks On Plastic Pollution End; Next Draft Of Legally-Binding Pact
  • Opinion: India And B’Desh Must Review Safety On Transboundary Rivers
  • Odisha Train Accident Site: Coaches Strewn, As Electric Saws Deployed
  • Rahul Confident Of Opp Joining Hands For An ‘Alternative Vision’ For India
  • 1983 World Cup Champions Extend Support To Protesting Wrestlers
  • Humans Exceeded 7 Of 9 ‘Safe Limits’ For Life On Earth: Study
  • Cash-ew Crop: Odisha Villages Claim Rights To Use Forest Products
  • The Art And Science Of Elephant Whispering
  • Akhand Bharat Proves Religious Extremists Are After The Same Thing
  • Outcome Of ’24 Elections Will ‘Surprise’ People: Rahul Gandhi
  • Ambikapur’s Women-Led Waste Mgmt System Also Generates Revenue
  • Wrestlers Protest: Security Up At Delhi Borders Ahead Of SKM Call
  • Summer Reading: 5 Books That Explore LGBTQ Teen & Young Adult Life
  • India’s Heat Action Plans Ignore The Vulnerable

Search

Main Links

  • Home
  • Newswires
  • Politics & Society
  • The New Feudals
  • World View
  • Arts And Aesthetics
  • For The Record
  • About Us

Related Stroy

  • Featured

‘Why Were Grave Red Flags Ignored?’ Kharge To PM Modi

7 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Taj City Activists March To Highlight Plight Of Dying Yamuna

9 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

Climate Change’s Dangerous New Fires

11 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

“He Is Driving Indian Car Looking In Rear-View Mirror, It’s Crashing”

11 hours ago Pratirodh Bureau
  • Featured

How A Drought-Prone Maha Village Attained Agri Success With Millets

1 day ago Pratirodh Bureau

Recent Posts

  • ‘Why Were Grave Red Flags Ignored?’ Kharge To PM Modi
  • Taj City Activists March To Highlight Plight Of Dying Yamuna
  • Climate Change’s Dangerous New Fires
  • “He Is Driving Indian Car Looking In Rear-View Mirror, It’s Crashing”
  • How A Drought-Prone Maha Village Attained Agri Success With Millets
Copyright © All rights reserved. | CoverNews by AF themes.