Early cardiac involvement in patients with acute COVID-19 infection identified by multiparametric cardiovascular magnetic resonance imaging

• Published in: European Heart Journal - Cardiovascular Imaging 2021-03, Vol.22 (8), p.844-851
• Main Authors: Chen, Bing-Hua, Shi, Nan-Nan, Wu, Chong-Wen, An, Dong-Aolei, Shi, Yu-Xin, Wesemann, Luke D, Hu, Jiani, Xu, Jian-Rong, Shan, Fei, Wu, Lian-Ming
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Original Paper
• ISSN: 2047-2404; 2047-2412
• DOI: 10.1093/ehjci/jeab042

Abstract Aims In order to determine acute cardiac involvement in patients with COVID-19, we quantitatively evaluated tissue characteristics and mechanics by non-invasive cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) in a cohort of patients within the first 10 days of the onset of COVID symptoms. Methods and results Twenty-five patients with reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction confirmed COVID-19 and at least one marker of cardiac involvement [cardiac symptoms, abnormal electrocardiograph (ECG), or abnormal cardiac biomarkers] and 25 healthy age- and gender-matched control subjects were recruited to the study. Patients were divided into those with elevated (n = 8) or normal TnI (n = 17). There were significant differences in global longitudinal strain among patients who were positive and negative for hs-TnI, and controls [−12.3 (−13.3, −11.5)%, −13.1 (−14.2, −9.8)%, and −15.7 (−18.3, −12.7)%, P = 0.004]. Native myocardial T1 relaxation times in patients with positive and negative hs-TnI manifestation (1169.8 ± 12.9 and 1113.2 ± 31.2 ms) were significantly higher than the normal (1065 ± 57 ms) subjects, respectively (P