[Acute and chronic cardiac involvement in COVID-19]
Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 20, 2025

Lung CT Segmentation to Identify Consolidations and Ground Glass Areas for Quantitative Assesment of SARS-CoV Pneumonia
Published on: December 19, 2020
1Universitätsklinik für Radiologie und Nuklearmedizin, Medizinische Universität Wien, Währinger Gürtel 18-20, 1090, Wien, Österreich. dietrich.beitzke@meduniwien.ac.at.
Insights
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) frequently causes cardiac complications, affecting up to 50% of patients. Imaging diagnostics are crucial for assessing these cardiovascular issues during and after infection.
Area of Science:
- Cardiology
- Infectious Diseases
- Medical Imaging
Background:
- COVID-19 primarily affects the lungs but commonly involves the cardiovascular system.
- Cardiac complications arise from systemic infection, direct myocardial injury (myocarditis, pericarditis), hypoxia, or thromboembolism.
- Pre-existing cardiovascular conditions significantly worsen COVID-19 prognosis.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review cardiac involvement and complications associated with COVID-19 infections.
- To highlight the role of diagnostic imaging in managing cardiac manifestations of COVID-19.
Main Methods:
- Comprehensive literature search of the PubMed database.
- Review of studies on cardiac involvement and complications of COVID-19.
- Inclusion of clinical experience in managing these cases.
Main Results:
- Cardiac involvement occurs in up to 50% of COVID-19 patients, varying with infection severity.
- Key cardiac manifestations include ischemic and inflammatory conditions.
- Echocardiography, cardiac MRI, and cardiac CT are vital imaging tools.
Conclusions:
- Cardiac involvement is a significant aspect of COVID-19.
- Advanced imaging modalities like MRI and CT are essential for detailed cardiac assessment.
- Imaging plays a critical role in both acute and post-infectious phases of COVID-19 cardiac complications.
Background:
Infections with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) most frequently affect the lungs but may also result in cardiovascular involvement and cardiovascular complications. The heart can either be involved as part of a systemic infection or directly involved due to myocarditis or pericarditis as well as in hypoxia, volume overload, fever or thromboembolic complications. Moreover, pre-existing underlying cardiovascular diseases have a substantial influence on the prognosis of patients with COVID-19 infections.
Method:
This review article is based on a comprehensive literature search in the PubMed database on cardiac involvement and cardiac complications of COVID 19 infections, enriched by experiences in dealing with this disorder.
Results And Conclusion:
Depending on the severity of the infection, cardiac involvement in a COVID 19 infection is observed in up to 50% of the patients. Besides echocardiography as the first-line examination method, cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for assessment of the myocardial structure and cardiac computed tomography (CT) for assessment of coronary arteries and to rule out intracardiac thrombus formation represent important imaging modalities. The most important cardiac manifestations in COVID 19 infections are ischemic and inflammatory diseases. The imaging diagnostics play an important role in the acute as well as in the postinfectious phases.
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