Huang Weijian, Richards Tara D, Kaczorowski David J, Noda Kentaro, Bartholow Tanner, Sanchez Pablo G, Phillippi Julie A
Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Ann Thorac Surg Short Rep. 2024 Jan 26;2(3):443-447. doi: 10.1016/j.atssr.2023.12.019. eCollection 2024 Sep.
COVID-19 patients exhibit higher incidence of thrombosis in arteries and veins, including those in lungs. Vasa vasorum, which support large blood vessels, have shown involvement in these pathologic processes.
To further explore the extent of microvascular damage caused by COVID-19 infection, we examined resected main, right, or left pulmonary artery specimens from patients undergoing bilateral lung transplantation for COVID-19- or non-COVID-19-induced pulmonary fibrosis compared with organ donors by histologic and immunohistologic analyses.
Vasa vasorum density was found to be higher in specimens procured from patients with COVID-19 and associated with pulmonary artery hypertension compared with lung transplant donors. In addition, we found immunothrombosis within vasa vasorum in specimens from COVID-19 patients with more immune infiltration, including CD15, CD44, and CD68 cells.
These findings reveal that COVID-19 affects the vasa vasorum of pulmonary arteries and suggest that infection may lead to large-vessel dysfunction and organ failure.
COVID-19患者在动脉和静脉，包括肺部血管中出现血栓形成的发生率更高。支持大血管的血管滋养管已显示参与这些病理过程。
为进一步探究COVID-19感染所致微血管损伤的程度，我们通过组织学和免疫组织学分析，将因COVID-19或非COVID-19所致肺纤维化而接受双侧肺移植患者的切除的主肺动脉、右肺动脉或左肺动脉标本与器官捐献者的标本进行比较。
与肺移植供体相比，从COVID-19患者获取的标本中血管滋养管密度更高，且与肺动脉高压相关。此外，我们在免疫浸润更多（包括CD15、CD44和CD68细胞）的COVID-19患者标本的血管滋养管内发现了免疫性血栓形成。
这些发现揭示了COVID-19会影响肺动脉的血管滋养管，并表明感染可能导致大血管功能障碍和器官衰竭。
