Restoration of cardiac function in children with COVID-related MIS-C

WEDNESDAY, January 19, 2022 (HealthDay News) – A rare and serious inflammatory condition called MIS-C can strike children weeks after they have recovered from their COVID infection.

But now there is good news for parents: children tend to fully recover from any heart injury within three months of illness, according to a new study from the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP).

“Although it can be quite serious and very, very rarely even fatal, most children recover,” said Dr. Kevin Friedman, a pediatric cardiologist at Boston Children’s Hospital who was not involved in the study. “Their hearts are recovering. Recovery is almost the norm over time.”

At the beginning of the pandemic, doctors found that children infected with COVID sometimes fell victim to a delayed side effect called MIS-C (multisystemic inflammatory syndrome in children).

Children usually develop MIS-C about four to six weeks after COVID infection. The syndrome causes deep inflammation throughout the body, which affects the main organs.

MIS-C occurs in 1 in 3,000 patients with COVID, said Dr. Pei-Ni Joan, a pediatric cardiologist at Colorado Children’s Hospital. Joan is also studying the cardiac effects of MIS-C, but was not involved in the new study.

In more than 4 out of 5 cases of MIS-C, the heart is one of the organs affected by this inflammation, CHOP researchers said in background notes.

“The heart is the organ most affected,” MIS-C said, Joan said, noting that reduced heart function can sometimes lead to kidney or liver damage.

Half of children with MIS-C suffer from reduced function of their left ventricle, the heart chamber, which pumps oxygenated blood to the body.

“The symptoms can be anything from very low to very low blood pressure and a very sick child who is in the intensive care unit who needs a windpipe and heart medication to support his heart,” Friedman said.

To see if these children were recovering, CHOP doctors compared 60 children hospitalized with COVID-related MIS-C to a group of 60 healthy children.

ECG readings show that cardiac function in children with MIS-C improves rapidly during the first week. Within three months, they were essentially back to normal. Magnetic resonance imaging performed on several children showed no permanent scars or damage to their hearts.