The pathogenetic mechanisms of COVID-19 (Corona Virus Disease 2019) may be atypical in some individuals with connective tissue diseases.

OBJECTIVE

To describe the aortic wall rupture in a patient with Stickler syndrome after COVID-19 re-infection.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

The clinical and pathological data obtained during the autopsy was compared. The histological material was stained with hematoxylin and eosin.

RESULTS

In the patient L.N., born in 1989, the disease began acutely with a fever of 38.1 °C and general malaise. A week later, he sought medical help due to pressing retrosternal pain spreading to the legs when driving a car; also, weakness and severe sweating occurred. Chest computed tomography showed signs of interstitial pneumonia (36% of lung tissue damage) and aortic dissection along its entire length. The patient died. At necropsy, hyaline membranes, exudate in the alveolar lumens in the lungs and transverse rupture of the aortic intima were revealed.

CONCLUSION

In a patient with Stickler syndrome, reinfection with SARS-CoV-2 was complicated by an aortic wall rupture.