Doctors Seeing Heart Inflammation In Young People With Coronavirus: 'Are These People At Risk?'
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) - Several otherwise healthy college athletes with COVID-19 have myocarditis – inflammation of the heart.
"You don't really see the virus molecule in the heart, you see the body's response to the virus," says Dr. Raghu Tadikamalla, a cardiologist at the Allegheny Health Network.
This condition can happen 1 to 5% of the time with other viral illnesses, but up to 60% with the novel coronavirus, with or without symptoms.
"We have seen cases of COVID myocarditis, and we've seen cases of weak hearts that have followed COVID infection," says Dr. Tadikamalla.
The heart inflammation can be deadly when people are very sick, but can linger even after people recover: "That can cause pain in the chest, it can cause shortness of breath."
Medicines can help a weak heart, if caught early.
But picking up ongoing inflammation or weakness requires testing – including heart rhythm tests, ultrasounds, blood tests and MRIs. The cost can add up.
"The average person who recovers from COVID will not get these tests if they are feeling well," Dr. Tadikamalla says. "We do (cardiac MRIs) pretty frequently at academic medical centers. They're not widely available in small towns."
One concern is the inflammation leading to scarring, leading to heart rhythm abnormalities.
"Sudden cardiac death in the country is rare, but it's not unheard of," says Dr. Tadikamalla, "And a lot of these cases are probably related to viral infections or inflammation of the heart."
Should athletes play during a pandemic?
"The question is: are these people at risk? Especially under circumstances like training and playing and football games," Dr. Tadikamalla says. "I don't think anyone knows what the risk is after recovering from COVID-19. If we don't have adequate testing, there could be a lot of undiagnosed cases, and these people would have heart issues from COVID without us knowing it."
And how people weigh the risks and benefits will be different for everyone.
