Left ventricular global strain early alteration in symptomatic forms of SARS-co2 infection

Salma, K.; Hassen, I.H.A.; Imen, T.; Fares, B. M.; Ghassen, H. M.; Jalel, K.

Introduction Several diseases are known to induce left ventricular global strain (SLG) alteration in the speckle tracking echography. However, to our knowledge, SARS-COV2 infection inducing such an alteration has reported only in a few series. Objectif To describe a case series of patients developing SLG alteration after SARS-COV2 infection. Method It was a prospective study (February2020 - March 2020), performed in the cardiology and pneumology departments of Mahdia Hospital-Tunisia. We included in this study, young patients without any medical history, developing SLG alteration after SARS-COV2 infection. For each patient, we assessed the SLG at the acute phase of SARS-Cov 2 infection (SLG initial: SLGi) and at one month after infection recovery (SLG control: SLGc). The comparison between SLGi and SLGc was based on delta SLG (=SLGc-SLGi) and Mc Nemar test. Continuous data were expressed as mean+-SD [min-max] and dichutomous variables were expressed as number (percentage). Results A total of 34 patients were included in the study. The sex ratio M/F was 0.45. The mean age was 34.9± 8.0 years [19-47]. The mean Body Mass Index (BMI) was 25.7 [19–29]. The severity grade of SARS-cov2 infection was 11%;3%;83%;3% for severe, moderate, mild and asymptomatic, respectively. The SLGi varied from −11% to −18.1% with a mean value at −16.24%. During the second visit, the SLGc was normal in 15 Patients (44.1%). The mean absolute delta SLG was 2.5±1.8. Mac Nemar test showed a significant improvement of SLG one month after SRS-COV 2 recovery (P < 10̄3: SLGi versus SLGc). Conclusion We reported here an original case series of SLG alteration induced by SARS-COV2 infection. However, this affection seems to be spontaneously reversible with the total extinction of symptoms several weeks after SARS-COV2 infection recovery.