Research reveals that post-COVID syndrome causes serious damage to a child’s heart

Texas: Multisystem inflammatory syndrome (MIS-C) in children thought to be associated with COVID-19 may damage the heart and some children may require lifelong monitoring and intervention, senior medical review The author said.

This review was published in The Lancet’s journal, EClinical Medicine.
Case studies have also shown that MIS-C can attack seemingly healthy children without warning 3 or 4 weeks after subclinical infection. Dr. Moreira, a neonatal specialist, is an assistant professor of pediatrics at the University of Joe R. and Theresa Rosano Long School of Medicine.

“According to the literature, children did not have to have the classic upper respiratory symptoms of COVID-19 to develop the dreaded MIS-C,” Dr. Moreira said. “Children may be asymptomatic, not everyone knew they had the disease, and after a few weeks, they might develop this exaggerated inflammation in the body. .”

The team reviewed 662 MIS-C cases reported worldwide from January 1st to July 25th.

In the survey results:

– 71% of children were admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).

– 60% showed shock.

– The average length of stay was 7.9 days.

– 100% had fever, 73.7% had abdominal pain or diarrhea, and 68.3% had vomiting.

– 90% had an echocardiography (EKG) test and 54% of the results were abnormal.

– 22.2% of children needed artificial respiration.

– 4.4% required extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO).

– 11 children died.

“This is a new childhood disease that is thought to be associated with SARS-CoV-2,” Dr. Moreira said. “It can be fatal because it affects multiple organ systems. Whether it’s the heart, lungs, gastrointestinal system, or nervous system, it has so many different aspects that It was difficult for clinicians to understand.”

The amount of MIS-C inflammation exceeds that of two similar children, Kawasaki disease and toxic shock syndrome. “The benefit of the savings was that these patients could be effectively treated with treatments commonly used in Kawasaki-immunoglobulin and glucocorticosteroids,” Dr. Moreira said.

Heart failure

Most of the 662 children suffered a heart attack, as indicated by markers such as troponin.

“Approximately 90% (581) of the children had echocardiography because they had prominent cardiac symptoms of such a disease,” Moreira said.

Damage Included:

-Expansion of coronary blood vessels, a phenomenon also seen in Kawasaki disease.

-Low ejection rate. Indicates that the heart has a reduced ability to pump oxygenated blood into the tissues of the body.

Almost 10% of children had coronary aneurysms. “This is a local stretch or bulge of blood vessels that can be measured by ultrasound of the heart,” Dr. Moreira said.

Children with aneurysms are at the highest risk of future events. “These are children who need significant observation and follow-up with multiple ultrasounds to see if this resolves, or if they have it for the rest of their lives,” Dr. Moreira. Said.

“It’s devastating to parents who had previously had healthy children, and then he/she is a small percentage of individuals who developed MIS-C after COVID-19 infection,” he said.

Another finding from a case study: Nearly half of patients with MIS-C had an underlying medical condition, and of them, half of the individuals were obese or overweight.

“In general, obese patients will have worse consequences, both in adults and children,” Dr. Moreira said.

The inflammatory markers of MIS-C were much more abnormal when compared to the original COVID-19 infection. For example, troponin, a marker used to diagnose heart attacks in adults, was 50 times above normal levels in children with MIS-C.

“Evidence suggests that children with MIS-C have significant inflammation and potential tissue damage to their hearts. To understand what their effects are in the long term, these children may Must be carefully tracked.” (Ani)

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