COVID-19 presented as acute kidney injury with secondary myocardial damage

Abstract

The most common manifestations of the 2019 novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) include fever, cough, dyspnea. Nevertheless, many atypical forms of presentation might be present, delaying a correct diagnosis. Acute kidney injury (AKI) is one of the important complications of COVID-19, occurring in 0.5-7% of cases and in 2.9-23% of ICU patients. The exact mechanisms by which COVID-19 induces AKI in different clinical settings is still a matter of debate. We present the case of a 53-year old woman, without any prior renal pathology, admitted to a Cardiology Department for atypical thoracic pain and oligo-anuria, without respiratory symptoms, who was diagnosed with SARS-CoV-2 infection. The patient had a significant rise in high-sensitivity cardiac troponin (from 304 ng/L to 889 ng/L in one hour) and mild systolic dysfunction (LVEF 45%), which led to the initial misdiagnosis of an acute myocardial infarction. Blood tests confirmed the diagnosis of acute kidney injury (creatinine 8.8 mg/dL in two different samples). She received hydro-electrolytic rebalancing treatment, with good clinical and biological evolution. To our knowledge this is one of the first reports, that highlights the existence of myocardial injury secondary to acute kidney injury caused by SARS-CoV-2 infection, in a patient without respiratory symptoms.

Keywords: Acute kidney injury; Atypical; Myocardial damage; Novel coronavirus.