The recent publication in Medscape, an online medical knowledge resource platform for medical professionals, suggests that echocardiography (2D transthoracic echocardiography) is the best practical prognostic measure for in-hospital patient mortality assessment.
The studies in New York City and Milan hospitals concluded that troponin studies should be carried with further echo studies for COVID-19 positive patients.
It demonstrates that increased troponin level along with echocardiography findings suggest a greater risk of mortality from the disease. The most common echocardiographic findings in patients positive for COVID-19 and related to poorer outcomes are “right-sided ventricular dysfunction in 26.3%, left-sided ventricular dysfunction in 23.7% of patients; left-ventricular global dysfunction in 18.4%; grade II or III diastolic dysfunction in 13.2%, and pericardial effusion in 7.2% of patients“
2D echocardiography is a relatively cheap and accessible method of choice to extensively evaluate heart function in COVID-19 positive patients.
