Risks of pulmonary arterial hypertension in patients with priored COVID‑19 infection in the long term

Vishneva Elena Mikhailovna, Yegorova Ekaterina Aleksandrovna

The coronavirus disease COVID-19 is a highly contagious infection currently widespread in the world, SARS-CoV-2 virus is the etiological factor of which condition. The long-term effects of SARS-CoV-2 infection after recovery are not yet known despite active research into all aspects of the disease. According to some already available data, SARS-CoV-2 is actively involved in the development of endothelial dysfunction. SARS-CoV-2 and cytokines disrupt the function of vascular endothelial cells in the form of stimulating the release of a large number of proaggregants and vasoconstrictors, which leads to endothelial dysfunction and microvascular damage of various localization. Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) should be one of the most anticipated complications, based on the nature of the pathogenesis of COVID-19 endothelial dysfunction. The endothelial dysfunction plays one of the fundamental roles in the pathogenesis of PAH, which ultimately leads to pulmonary vascular remodeling. There is a description of a number of clinical cases of PAH development after suffering a severe form of COVID-19 associated pneumonia. At this stage, we decided to use the existing medical literature to try to answer the question about the likelihood of developing PAH in patients who did not previously have this clinical condition, against the background of a postponed COVID-19 infection of any severity in a delayed period.

Keywords:COVID-19, endothelial dysfunction, pulmonary artery hypertension, pulmonary vascular remodeling, microvascular damage.