Strain imaging as a prognostic indicator for complications in COVID-19 patients

The goal of this study was to determine the potential for right ventricular (RV) and left ventricular (LV) strain to predict cardiopulmonary complications of COVID-19. We identified 276 patients with COVID-19 who underwent transthoracic echocardiography within 30 days of COVID-19 diagnosis at our institution. Patients were excluded if they had a history of any primary outcomes before COVID-19 diagnosis or insufficient imaging. LV global longitudinal strain (GLS) and RV GLS were obtained using 2-dimensional speckle-tracking echocardiography. Primary outcomes were death, pulmonary embolism, congestive heart failure (CHF), cardiomyopathy, pulmonary fibrosis, pulmonary hypertension, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and myocardial infarction (MI) occurring after COVID-19 diagnosis. In the final analysis of 163 patients, mean RV GLS and LV GLS were reduced, and 43.6% developed at least one primary outcome. There were significant differences in LV GLS distribution in terms of CHF, cardiomyopathy, and MI in bivariate analysis. However, LV GLS was not significantly associated with CHF after adjusting for LV ejection fraction and RV fractional area change, nor with MI after adjusting for troponin T. RV GLS was significantly associated with ARDS after adjusting for other variables. In the risk stratification of patients with COVID-19, strain imaging can provide incremental prognostic information, as worsened RV GLS is associated with the development of ARDS.