Myocardial involvement in COVID-19: data from 102 unselected autopsies during the first wave of pandemic
Authors: Platonov P , Vasilyev V V , Startseva G , Karev V E , Rybakova M G , Romanova E S 
Published: October 2021

Background

Myocardial involvement in COVID-19 has been described as either coronary artery related ischemic lesions, lymphocyte myocarditis or microangiopathy. Assessment of the link between COVID-19 and the cause of death has been hampered by the limited number of autopsies performed during the pandemics and risk factors associated with the type and extent of myocardial damage remain poorly described. In Russia, the mandatory autopsy approach has been advocated for the cases of suspected COVID-19 related deaths.

Purpose

To describe the prevalence, extent and risk factors associated with myocardial damage in an unselected cohort of patients deceased with COVID-19.

Methods

Consecutive patients with PCR-confirmed or suspected COVID-19 who died either in-hospital (clinical autopsy) or out-of-hospital (forensic autopsy) during COVID-19 pandemic underwent post-mortem PCR on pulmonary parenchymal tissue. Tissue PCR-positive cases were referred for histology study of pulmonary and extrapulmonary organ specimens through a central laboratory. Based on the extent of diffuse alveolar damage (DAD), COVID-19 was categorized as either being related to death or a concomitant condition not associated with death. Myocardial involvement was categorized as either (1) coronary artery related myocardial infarction, (2) microangiopathy with interstitial edema and erythrocyte aggregates occluding the capillaries with or without lymphomononuclear infiltration and (3) lymphocyte myocarditis. The presence of myocardial involvement was assessed with regard to age, gender and autopsy-verified significant coronary artery disease (CAD) and diabetes (information available only for the clinical autopsy cohort).

Results

102 autopsies were included, of whom 42 were clinical and 60 forensic (age 73±15 years, 50% men; 58% had CAD). Ten patients from the clinical autopsy cohort had diabetes (24%). Deaths were COVID-19 related in 80 patients (78%). Myocardial infarction was noted in 3 (2.9%) patients. Microangiopathy was seen in 45 (44%) and lymphocyte myocarditis in 2 (1.9%) patients, of whom it was the primary cause of death in one. The prevalence of microangiopathy did not differ between patients with and without significant DAD (46% vs 45%, p=0.848). Patients with diabetes were more likely to have microangiopathy with lymphomononuclear infiltration in the myocardium than patients without diabetes (40% vs 3.1%, p=0.008; OR=22, 95% CI 1.63–305, p=0.020 after adjustment for age, gender and CAD)

Conclusion

Systematically performed autopsies revealed causative association between SARS-CoV2 and death in the vast majority. Myocardial involvement was observed in nearly half of the patients and was not related to the extent of DAD. Myocarditis appears to be a rare finding, though it can be the primary cause of death. Microangiopathy with capillary occlusion and lymphomononuclear infiltration in the myocardium was associated with the history of diabetes.

Funding Acknowledgement

Type of funding sources: None.