Dear Editor,
We would like to share ideas on the publication “Time-related aortic inflammatory response, as assessed with 18F-FDG PET/CT, in patients hospitalized with severely or critical COVID-19: the COVAIR study.1 ” Aortic inflammation, as measured by 18F-FDG PET/CT imaging in patients with severe or critical COVID-19, is enhanced in the early post COVID phase and essentially decreases over time, according to Vlachopoulos et al.1. We agree that COVID-19 may have an inflammatory alteration in the aorta. During COVID-19, the pathophysiology could be attributable to an aberrant inflammatory response or a hyperviscosity process.2 The recent report suggests that the process is reversible and that no pathophysiological process via a permanent pathoimmunological mechanism exists.
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References
- 1.Vlachopoulos C, Terentes-Printzios D, Katsaounou P, Solomou E, Gardikioti V, Exarchos D, et al. Time-related aortic inflammatory response, as assessed with 18F-FDG PET/CT, in patients hospitalized with severely or critical COVID-19: the COVAIR study. J Nucl Cardiol. 2022 doi: 10.1007/s12350-022-02962-1. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- 2.Joob B, Wiwanitkit V. Blood viscosity of COVID-19 patient: A preliminary report. Am J Blood Res. 2021;11:93–95. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]