Early in the pandemic, reports suggested that COVID-19 was more than just a respiratory disease as physicians started to see that the virus was also having a dire impact on the cardiovascular health of some patients.
Over the following months, hypotheses and speculation gave way to a solid understanding of the cardiovascular risks associated with a COVID-19 including heart attacks and strokes.
At Hackensack University Medical Center’s Cardiovascular experts, David Landers, M.D., vice chair, Heart & Vascular Hospital and Sameer Jamal, M.D., cardiologist, in coordination with Hackensack Meridian Health’s COVID-19 Recovery Center, evaluated dozens of patients with Post COVID Syndrome exhibiting symptoms of fatigue, heart palpitations and labored breathing, well after recovery from their COVID-19 infection. Kim Kenny was one of the patients. “My heart rate and oxygen levels were all over the map,” said Kim, who was eventually diagnosed with systemic vascular resistance, at just 26 years old. “Basically my heart flow was impacted,” she explained.
This IRB approved, prospective observational study eventually concluded that some long Covid patients, like Kim, may have disruptions in the regulation of blood vessel size and caliber. As such the resistance may at times be inappropriately high which makes it more difficult for the heart to pump blood throughout the body. This diminished blood flow can produce that shortness of breath, fast heart rates, fatigue and chest pain.
Additionally, Dr. Landers and team also assessed questions like:
*Who gets Post COVID Syndrome
*How long it lasts
*What therapies exist
Soon the team will begin to enroll patients in a study to treat Long COVID-19 Syndrome impacting the heart. Patients with shortness of breath, fatigue and rapid beating of the heart (tachycardia) will be treated with a specifically designed regimen of beta blockers. The response to this commonly used medication will be monitored with exercise and echocardiographic testing. Close follow up will be provided by members of the division of cardiology at Hackensack University Medical Center.
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