Palmisano, Anna, Gambardella, Michele, D'Angelo, Tommaso, Vignale, Davide, Ascione, Raffaele, Gatti, Marco, Peretto, Giovanni, Federico, Francesco, Shah, Amar, and Esposito, Antonio
Cardiovascular involvement is a common complication of COVID-19 infection and is associated to increased risk of unfavorable outcome. Advanced imaging modalities (coronary CT angiography and Cardiac Magnetic Resonance) play a crucial role in the diagnosis, follow-up and risk stratification of patients affected by COVID-19 pneumonia with suspected cardiovascular involvement. In the present manuscript we firstly review current knowledge on the mechanisms by which SARS-CoV-2 can trigger endothelial and myocardial damage. Secondly, the implications of the cardiovascular damage on patient's prognosis are presented. Finally, we provide an overview of the main findings at advanced cardiac imaging characterizing COVID-19 in the acute setting, in the post-acute syndrome, and after vaccination, emphasizing the potentiality of CT and CMR, the indication and their clinical implications. • Cardiovascular involvement is common in COVID-19 and is associated with unfavorable prognosis. • CT can exclude coronary disease and pulmonary embolism, providing ancillary information for risk stratification. • CMR is useful to characterize myocardial alteration related to acute COVID-19, post-acute sequelae and vaccination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]