2-D speckle tracking echocardiographic evaluation of mild post-COVID patients

Objectives: 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 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 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 values were equal in the groups and the number of patients with impaired GLS values in the symptomatic group were more 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.