Cardiac Function in Pediatric Patients with MIS-C Using Speckle Tracking and Conventional Echocardiography: A...

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Cardiology
• Cardiovascular Imaging
• Infectious Diseases

Background:

• Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C) frequently involves cardiovascular complications following COVID-19.
• Conventional transthoracic echocardiography (TTE) offers basic assessment, but Speckle Tracking Echocardiography (STE) provides superior sensitivity for evaluating cardiac function.

Purpose of the Study:

• To longitudinally assess cardiac function in pediatric patients diagnosed with MIS-C using STE.
• To compare STE-derived cardiac parameters between MIS-C patients and healthy controls.

Main Methods:

• A longitudinal study involving 35 pediatric MIS-C patients (mean age 5.1 years) assessed via STE at diagnosis and two months later.
• Comparison with 29 age- and sex-matched healthy children.
• Exclusion of patients with comorbidities affecting strain measurements.

Main Results:

• Significant differences in regional myocardial strain were observed between MIS-C patients and controls.
• Global Longitudinal Strain (GLS) and strain rates were lower in MIS-C patients, with 20% showing abnormal GLS despite normal LVEF.
• All patients exhibited reduced segmental strain, indicating widespread subclinical myocardial injury.

Conclusions:

• STE is more sensitive than conventional echocardiography for detecting cardiac involvement in MIS-C.
• STE reveals subclinical myocardial injury in both acute and post-acute phases of MIS-C, even when LVEF is preserved.