We know Coronavirus attacks the lungs, but doctors are finding the heart can also be a target. Dr. John Finley, an interventional cardiologist at Mercy Catholic Medical Center in Darby, says 70 percent of COVID-19 patients experience issues with the heart. He says those problems can be minor, including minor cell death, inflammation of the heart, and arrhythmias, or they can be quite severe, leading to a dramatic decline in heart function or deadly arrhythmias.
He says medications to try to slow the virus and its immune system attacks would be the first defense along with oxygen or supportive ventilators if needed. Doctors are finding that blood thinners are useful, as many patients develop blood clots, some of which can be deadly. The sickest patients may require more intense treatment, including mechanical devices that take over the function of the heart and lungs until the patients can recover. He says therapies such as ECMO or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation have been beneficial to give the patients more time to recover from the virus.
Dr. Finley has used these therapies on several patients suffering from Coronavirus. Ideally the treatment would only be used for 3-7 days in younger patients with few underlying issues. In addition, Dr. Finley says these treatments are only used for those patients who have not responded to anything else.