Cytokine storms caused by novel coronavirus 2019 and treatment for cardiac injury

D.-M. Zhang, S.-L. Chen

Department of Cardiology, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. daiminzh@126.com

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• Infectious Diseases

Since December 2019, an outbreak of a new coronavirus, COVID-19, infection has been taking place. At present, COVID-19 has spread to most countries worldwide. The latest evidence suggests that cytokine storm syndrome (CSS) is an important cause of the transition from mild to critical pneumonia and critically ill patients’ death. The sudden exacerbation of COVID-19 may be related to a cytokine storm. Therefore, early identification and active treatment of CSS may play very important roles in improving the patients’ prognosis, and these tasks are given attention in the current treatment of new Coronavirus pneumonia. However, there is still no specific medicine for this purpose. This article reviews cytokine storms and conducts an exploratory review of pharmacotherapy for cytokine storms to provide a reference for clinical treatment.

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