Objective: To evaluate for cardiac involvement in recovered COVID-19 patients using cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI). Methods: A total of 30 subjects recently recovered from COVID-19 and abnormal left ventricular global longitudinal strain were enrolled. Routine investigations, inflammatory markers and cardiac MRI were done at baseline with follow-up scan at 6 months in individuals with abnormal baseline scan. Additionally, 20 age-and sex-matched individuals were enrolled as healthy controls (HCs). Results: All 30 enrolled subjects were symptomatic during active COVID-19 disease and were categorized as mild: 11 (36.7%), moderate: 6 (20%) and severe: 13 (43.3%). Of the 30 patients, 16 (53.3%) had abnormal CMR findings. Myocardial edema was reported in 12 (40%) patients while 10 (33.3%) had LGE. No difference was observed in terms of conventional LV parameters however, COVID-19 recovered patients had significantly lower right ventricular (RV) ejection fraction, RV stroke volume and RV cardiac index compared to HCs. Follow-up scan was abnormal in 4/16 (25%) with LGE persisting in 3 patients. Myocardial T1 (1284 + 43.8 ms vs 1147.6 + 68.4 ms; P<0.0001) and T2 values (50.8+16.7 ms vs 42.6+3.6 ms; P=0.04) were significantly higher in post COVID-19 subjects compared to HCs. Similarly, T1 and T2 values of severe COVID-19 patients were significantly higher compared to mild and moderate cases. Conclusions: An abnormal CMR was seen in half of recovered patients with persistent abnormality in one-fourth at six months. Our study suggests a need for closer follow-up among recovered subjects in order to evaluate for long term cardiovascular sequalae.

Objectives: Myocardial injury during active coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) infection is well described however, its persistence during recovery is unclear. We assessed left ventricle (LV) global longitudinal strain (GLS) using speckle tracking echocardiography (STE) in COVID-19 recovered patients and studied its correlation with various parameters.Methods: A total of 134 subjects within 30-45 days post recovery from COVID-19 infection and normal LV ejection fraction were enrolled. Routine blood investigations, inflammatory markers (on admission) and comprehensive echocardiography including STE were done for all. Results: Of the 134 subjects, 121 (90.3%) were symptomatic during COVID-19 illness and were categorized as mild: 61 (45.5%), moderate: 50 (37.3%) and severe: 10 (7.5%) COVID-19 illness. Asymptomatic COVID-19 infection was reported in 13 (9.7%) patients. Subclinical LV and right ventricle (RV) dysfunction were seen in 40 (29.9%) and 14 (10.5%) patients respectively. Impaired LVGLS was reported in 1 (7.7%), 8 (13.1%), 22 (44%) and 9 (90%) subjects with asymptomatic, mild, moderate and severe disease respectively. LVGLS was significantly lower in patients recovered from severe illness (mild: -21 ± 3.4%; moderate: -18.1 ± 6.9%; severe: -15.5 ± 3.1%; P < 0.0001). Subjects with reduced LVGLS had significantly higher interleukin-6 (P < 0.0001), C-reactive protein (P = 0.001), lactate dehydrogenase (P = 0.009) and serum ferritin (P = 0.03) levels during index admission. Conclusions: Subclinical LV dysfunction was seen in nearly a third of recovered COVID-19 patients while 10.5% had RV dysfunction. Our study suggests a need for closer follow-up among COVID-19 recovered subjects to elucidate long-term cardiovascular outcomes.