Pulmonary Vascular Endothelialitis, Thrombosis, and Angiogenesis in Covid-19

Researchers compared lung samples of seven patients who died from COVID-19 with seven who died from acute respiratory distress syndrome related to influenza A(H1N1) and 10 uninfected controls. The lungs of both COVID-19 and influenza patients had diffuse alveolar damage and infiltrating perivascular lymphocytes. However, the lungs of COVID-19 patients also had severe endothelial injury associated with intracellular SARS-CoV-2 and disrupted endothelial cell membranes, widespread vascular thrombosis with microangiopathy and occlusion of alveolar capillaries, and significant new blood vessel growth through intussusceptive angiogenesis. The findings are reported in the New England Journal of Medicine.

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMoa2015432?query=pfw&jwd=000000762462&jspc=CD