Topicality of pulmonary heart disease against under conditions of the COVID-19 pandemic

The prevalence of pulmonary heart syndrome among patients in the intensive care unit of the «red zone» (n=48, including 28 men and 20 women, mean age 72.1±1 year) was studied and its dynamics was assessed. Echo - and electrocardiography were used as evaluation methods. Patients were treated for severe pneumonia COVID-19 (in intensive care) and were examined in a hospital 2-12 weeks after discharge. The proportion of patients with pulmonary hypertension in intensive care was 75%. Chronic cor pulmonale was detected in 25%, acute - in 27% of patients. The presence of signs of cor pulmonale (acute and chronic) correlated with death. Despite massive pneumonia therapy, in 37% of survivors, EchoCG signs of cor pulmonale persisted 26 days after discharge. Patients with signs of cor pulmonale were more likely to have shortness of breath in the long - term period after infection as compared with patients with normal pressure in the arteries of the small circle. ECG showed no corresponding changes in cases of chronic and acute cor pulmonale and is not the method of choice for its diagnosis in COVID-19.

cor pulmonale, COVID-19, echocardiography, electrocardiography, pulmonary artery systolic pressure, pulmonary embolism