Abstract
Objectives: In recent years, COVID-19 has been the primary
health problem and because of the virus affinity to endothelial cells,
it has become an important reason of vascular problems and cardiac
injury. After mild COVID-19 infection, patients frequently attend to the
cardiology clinics with cardiac symptoms like chest pain, shortness of
breath, palpitations, and reduced exercise capacity and their primary
cardiac tests are mostly normal. The aim of the study is analysing if
the difference of cardiac deterioration could be shown with 2D-speckle
tracking echocardiography between symptomatic and asymptomatic
post-COVID patients when transthoracic echocardiography parameters are
normal.
Methods: In this retrospective single centre study, total of
2741 transthoracic echocardiography records were assessed and post-COVID
patients (n:108) were detected and divided into ‘symptomatic’ and
asymptomatic’ patient groups and left ventricular global longitudinal
strain values were compared.
Results: The number of patients with normal global longitudinal
strain (GLS) values were equal in the groups and there were 4 patients
whose GLS values were borderline in the asymptomatic group, while there
was none in the symptomatic group. The number of patients with impaired
GLS values in the symptomatic group were higher than the asymptomatic
group (15 patients in the symptomatic group and 4 patients in the
asymptomatic group) and the difference was statistically different
(p=0,008). The average GLS values were -18,88±2,50 in the asymptomatic
group and -17,40±3,68 in symptomatic group but the difference was not
statistically significant (p=0,098)
Conclusion: More symptomatic patients than the asymptomatic
ones have impaired left ventricular GLS values according to the results
of this study. Even if it is not statistically significant, the mean
left ventricular GLS values are also reduced in symptomatic patients
after mild COVID-19 infection.