RESUMEN
Aim: To study the systolic function (SF) and diastolic function (DF) of the heart and to assess subclinical myocardial right ventricular (RV) dysfunction in pts after severe COVID-19. We examined 23 males aged 46-70 years (mean age - 58.8 +/- 12.6 yrs) discharged after COVID-19 (50-75% of the parenchymal damage) with exertional dyspnea. We performed transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) with assessment of RV global longitudinal strain (RV-GLS) and right ventricular free wall longitudinal strain (RVLS) using speckle tracking echocardiography. Result(s): The SF of the RV assessed by the excursion of the tricuspid valve ring (TAPSE) was preserved (2.1 +/- 0.6 cm) in all pts under study after severe COVID-19. The left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction was also preserved (62.1 +/- 4.7%) in all pts. TTE revealed normal ventricular and atrial dimensions: LV end-diastolic volume index (62.5 +/- 8.4 ml/m2) and RV end-diastolic diameter (2.7 +/- 0.6 cm), left atrial (LA) volume index (26.7 +/- 3.1 ml/m2) and right atrial (RA) volume index (20.2 +/- 4.5 ml/m2). LV DD was also detected: Grade I in 17 (74%) pts, and Grade II in 6 (16%) pts. Moderate pulmonary hypertension (PH) was present in all pts (time of acceleration of systolic flow in the pulmonary artery (AcT - 85.0 +/- 7.9 msec) as a consequence of significant pulmonary parenchymal involvement. We found reduced RV-GLS (-17.4 +/- 2.7%) and free wall RVLS (-18.9 +/- 3.1%) in 23 (100%) pts. Conclusion(s): Preserved LV and RV SF with Grade 1 and Grade 2 LV DD and moderate PH were established in pts after severe COVID-19. RV wall motion abnormalities with reduced RV-GLS and free wall RVLS were found, indicating the presence of subclinical RV myocardial dysfunction.