A preliminary study for evaluation of SARS-COV-2 RNA present on atherosclerotic plaques

Aim: The aim of this study is to investigate the presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA genome in atherosclerotic plaques in patients with a history of COVID-19 who are scheduled for surgery due to peripheral artery disease.Material and Methods: Between the relevant dates, 40 patients with COVID-19 disease who were operated for peripheral artery disease in our clinic were included in the study.Of the 40 samples, 20 were aortic tissue and 20 were endothelial tissue.These tissues consist of samples taken from the patient at the Cardiovascular Surgery Department.The samples were transferred to the Microbiology laboratory and extracted by PCR procedure.Laboratory diagnosis with the kit was performed by multiplex RT-qPCR targeting SARS-CoV-2 ORF1ab and N genes in a real-time PCR device.Results: Eight out of 20 patients in the endothelial group were female and 12 were male.Ten out of 20 patients in the aortic group were female and 10 were male.All samples were found as negative by PCR for SARS-CoV-2 at two study groups (aortic and endothelial tissues).Discussion: This valuable study was conducted under limited resources and challenging pandemic conditions.We believe that this study will serve as a preliminary investigation shedding light on the effects of atherosclerotic plaques in patients with COVID-19 and PCR positivity in long-term and large-scale cases.