The COVID-19 (COronaVIrus Disease 2019) caused more than 3.5 million deaths all over the world. Patients who have underlying comorbidity, such as cardiovascular and pulmonary diseases have shown worse prognosis. In view of this, undivided attention was focused on patients with such rare conditions as pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) and chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension (CTEPH). There is currently limited data available regarding COVID-19 infection in CTEPH patients. The available data are mostly case studies or small case series. The aim of this publication was to describe the course of COVID-19 in patients with previously diagnosed CTEPH. Methods. The study included 92 patients with an established diagnosis of CTEPH, who were managed in the Federal State Budgetary Institution National medical research center of cardiology named after academician E.I. Chazov, Ministry of Health of the Russian Federation. 62 patients with CTEPH and confirmed COVID-19 were enrolled, including 62% women. The mean age was 55.8 ± 14.8 years. Results. The duration of COVID-19 was 14 [10; 30] days. The fever, general weakness, anosmia, and dyspnea were the most frequent presentations at diagnosis of COVID-19 in CTEPH patients. According to the multispiral computed tomography (CT) chest scans, more than half of the patients (54.2%) had mild disease (category CT-1). Most of the patients were under specific therapy (92%), mainly riociguat at an average daily dose of 5.75 ± 2.2 mg/day. All patients received anticoagulants. No need for long-term respiratory support and no lethal outcomes were registered in the study group. Conclusion. Small pilot studies demonstrated favorable clinical course of COVID-19 in CTEPH patients. This finding could be explained by the protective effect of anticoagulation and specific treatment.

The case of a 81-year-old male with atrial fibrillation, associated with severe aortic stenosis (AS) is outlined. A peculiarity of the clinical portrait of AS is a long asymptomatic period with a significantly varying duration. After the appearance of the first clinical manifestations of the disease (shortness of breath on exercise, fainting) the risk of sudden death rises sharply, and the average life expectancy is 2-3 years. The development of atrial fibrillation (AF) leads to a serious impairment of the clinical condition due to loss of the contribution of atrial systole to the filling of the left ventricle (LV). Concentric hypertrophy of the LV, which at the first stage is an important adaptation mechanism compensatingfor a high intracavitary pressure, later leads to a relative reduction of the coronary blood flow and to limitation of the coronary vasodilatation reserve. So patient was referred for transcatheter aortic valve implantation. He had also a history of coronary artery disease with earlier percutaneous coronary intervention. Then, he was started on a triple antithrombotic therapy therapy. The triple antithrombotic therapy caused gastrointestinal bleeding (Mallory-Weiss syndrome). Considering the difficulties in the rational choice of anticoagulant therapy and high risks of adverse reactions, the patient underwent endovascular occlusion of the left atrial appendage.