Cardiac Involvement is the Reason for Persistent Dyspnea in Post COVID-19 Patients without Pulmonary Sequelae: A Retrospective Study

Objective: Several forms of cardiovascular involvement have been described in acute coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) infection and also it has been shown that acute infection is responsible for cardiac symptoms. However, the data on cardiac involvement and associated symptoms in chronic phase remains unclear. Recent evidence have shown that the reason for persistent dyspnea can be persistent cardiac dysfunction in post COVID-19 infection. The aim of our study was to investigate the relationship between persistent dyspnea and cardiac involvement in post COVID-19 patients without pulmonary sequelae. Material(s) and Method(s): In our study, we recruited 30 post COVID-19 patients with dyspnea between January 2021 and July 2021. In all patients, the absence of pulmonary sequelae was detected with PFT and chest- CT. 2D-TTE, 2D-STE and MPS were performed for each case. Result(s): Left ventricular dysfunction was detected in 63.3% of patients and also 93.3% of patients had extensive abnormal GLS at 3 month follow-up. Of the patients, 33.3% had myocardial perfusion defect (MPD) and all MPDs were observed to be reversible defects. MPD was obviously seen in anterior wall (60%) and mid (20%) to apical (70%) segments. As compared with patients without MPD, patients with MPD had higher CK-MB (p: 0.016) and troponin I (p: 0.011), lesser PW thickness (p:0.020) and lower peak systolic strain rate at A2C view (p:0.031). Patients with NYHA III had more impaired GLS than patients with NYHA II (p:0.035). Conclusion(s): Our study suggests ischemic or non-ischemic cardiac dysfunction may be associated with persistent dyspnea in post- COVID- 19 patients without lung sequelae. Copyright © 2022 by Turkiye Klinikleri.