COVID-19-induced silent myocarditis and newly developed hypertension in a 3-year-old boy

COVID-19 myocarditis occurs in 7-28% of patients admitted in the hospital with or without multisystem inflammatory syndrome. It may present as fulminant myocarditis. Dilated cardiomyopathy as a sequela of COVID-19 myocarditis has been reported in the pediatric population. However, to date, no case of silent COVID-19 myocarditis progressing to dilated cardiomyopathy has been reported in children. Furthermore, although newly developed hypertension as a sequela of COVID-19 infection has been reported in adults, there is no report of newly developed COVID-induced hypertension in children. We report a 3-year-old boy with silent COVID-19 myocarditis progressing to dilated cardiomyopathy and newly developed systemic hypertension.

A 3-year-old boy was referred to the emergency department because of respiratory distress. The parents gave a history of SARS-CoV-2 infection in the child 5 months ago that was manifested as fever and cough, for which he was treated as an outpatient. Echocardiographic examination revealed a severe decrease in left ventricular systolic function in favor of dilated cardiomyopathy. Cardiac magnetic resonance imaging established the diagnosis of myocarditis. The patient left ventricular systolic function did not improve after 2 weeks of intravenous inotropic support. Therefore, the child was transferred to another tertiary center with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation and pediatric cardiac transplantation facilities.

COVID-19 can induce silent myocarditis with progression to dilated cardiomyopathy and newly developed systemic hypertension. Thus, a thorough examination of the heart and measurement of blood pressure are mandatory in every child with COVID-19 infection. Cardiac MR is an indispensable tool in the diagnosis, follow-up, and prognostication of COVID-19 myocarditis. Moreover, four-chamber speckle tracking strain imaging showed apical rocking in all the four heart chambers in this child with opposite direction in the failed left ventricle compared with other cardiac chambers. Lastly, the presence of septal flash on M-mode echocardiography, apical rocking and prestretch-rebound stretch patterns on longitudinal strain imaging of the failed left ventricle in this child may be of predictive value for response to cardiac resynchronization therapy.