COVID-19 survivors and COPD affected patients capillaroscopy evaluation: a pilot study

<bold>Objective:</bold> In our study we assessed the microvascular status in COVID-19 survivors treated with non-invasive ventilation (NIV) (1), and in COPD. Methods. 35 patients with microvascular alteration occurred after COVID-19 infection and treated with NIV were recruited in our study (mean age 55 ± 10 years old, months after the hospital discharge 3 ± 1). Other 35 patients affected by COPD in moderate stage (mean age 56 ± 11 years old, duration of the disease 5 ± 3 years) were enrolled in the study. We performed a nailfold videocapillaroscopy (NVC) to all patients. Results. We observed a decreasing in the mean number of nail capillaries per linear millimetre in COVID-19 survivors (mean value 5± 2 capillaries/mm) (Fig 1) compared with COPD affected patient (mean value 8 ± 1 capillaries/mm) (p<0.002) (Fig 2). There was no statistically significant difference between COVID-19 survivors and control groups regarding the frequency of microhemorrhages, dilatation and ramification of capillaries. The preliminary data at six months show that the treatment with aminaphtone, a drug used to treat a variety of vascular disorders, in post COVID-19 disease patients produces an improvement of the symptoms and a decrease of the NVC alterations (p<0.001). Conclusions. SARS-CoV-2 infection can lead to the decrease of the number of capillaries in COVID-19 survivors compared to COPD affected patients. The preliminary data seem to support the efficacy of aminaphtone inducing the remission of the aspecific alteration of capillaroscopy in patients that showed microcirculation alterations after COVID-19 disease. References. 1. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics13111905.