Myocarditis in Coronavirus disease 2019: Not an equivalent to troponinitis

• Main Authors: Saikrishna Reddy, Bharath Kidambi, Sampath Madapati
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2020-01-01
• Series: Journal of the Practice of Cardiovascular Sciences
• Subjects: covid-19; myocardial injury; myocarditis; troponinitis
• Online Access: http://www.j-pcs.org/article.asp?issn=2395-5414;year=2020;volume=6;issue=2;spage=111;epage=115;aulast=Reddy

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has affected around 5 million people and is on raising trend. It has overwhelmed the health-care systems of all specialties including cardiology. Cardiac involvement has been seen based on the early reports from China showing elevation of troponin and especially in the critical cases varying form 7%–28%. Speculations were made about the possibilities of myocarditis based on those reports. This short review attempted to methodologically look at available clinical evidence on the true incidence of myocarditis in COVID-19. The data suggest that troponin elevation is not equal to either ischemic heart disease or myocarditis and is some form of nonischemic myocardial injury and a marker of higher morbidity. It is related to the cytokine storm, but more information is needed on its pathogenesis.