Return to Mayo Clinic Q&A

Heart muscle damage from COVID-19

a white or perhaps a Latina woman in a white t-shirt sitting on the edge of bed, holding her hand to her chest, out of concern, stress, worry, heart pain

Heart muscle damage from COVID-19
Aug. 31, 2020

From the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, it was that known the disease affected the lungs. But some of the most severe damage to the body can be to the heart muscle. COVID-related myocarditis, or inflammation of the heart muscle, can cause severe damage and sometimes death. 

On the Mayo Clinic Q&A podcast, Dr. Leslie Cooper, chair of Cardiology at Mayo Clinic in Florida, discusses how COVID-19 affects the heart in hospitalized patients, in young people and he identifies areas of research that need to be pursued in the near future.