As the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic evolves, evidence has implicated the heart as a critical target of injury. We examined purported mechanisms of COVID-19-associated heart damage in 21 COVID-19-positive decedents, compared to clinically matched controls and other etiologies of viral myocarditis in a custom tissue microarray, via immunohistochemistry and in situ hybridization. Collectively, COVID-19-associated cardiac injury was multifactorial, with elevated levels of neutrophil extracellular traps and von Willebrand factor as defining features of direct and indirect viral-associated injury.
- Paul J. Hanson
- Felicia Liu-Fei
- Bruce M. McManus
