Myocarditis is characterized by dysfunction and destruction of cardiomyocytes, infiltrative inflammation, and development of fibrosis. Late diagnosis of myocarditis has been a serious global health problem, especially due to the spread of a new coronavirus infection. The aim of this review is to identify differences between myocarditis of viral etiology, including SARS-CoV-2 lesions, based on instrumental and pathomorphological findings.
Material and methods: We analyzed publications covering the period from December 2019 to May 2023, published in publicly accessible international databases ("Medline", "PubMed", "Scopus"), with queries for the keywords "myocarditis", "children", "cardiovascular inflammation", "COVID-19", "SARS-CoV-2", "severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2", "differential diagnosis".
Results: It was found that no unambiguous morphological criteria for the diagnosis of myocarditis coupled to SARS-CoV-2 lesions were identified. However, the detected histopathological changes such as virus-associated degeneration, apoptosis, cardiomyocyte necrosis, moderate interstitial hyperemia, myocardial tissue oedema, and capillary endothelial cell dysfunction were the major markers of SARS-CoV-2 infection.
Conclusion: It is necessary further reconsider morphological criteria to diagnose SARS-CoV-2-caused myocarditis, rather than solely relying on detecting viral RNA by PCR as the sole evidence-based criterion. Similar issues accompany diagnostics of myocardial lesions associated with other viral infections. Evidence for an etiological diagnosis of myocarditis can be provided by a comprehensive analysis of the diagnostic criteria obtained, confirming virus exposure, followed by development of distinct clinical symptoms, MRI and CT changes, and morphological criteria.
Keywords: SARS-CoV-2 infection; heart transplantation; immunohistochemical and ultrastructural myocardial studies; virus transmission.