EKG Abnormalities in a Youth Athlete Following COVID-19: It's Not Always Myocarditis!

Adam W Powell; Elaine M Urbina; William B Orr; Jesse E Hansen; Shankar Baskar

doi:10.1007/s00246-022-02935-8

EKG Abnormalities in a Youth Athlete Following COVID-19: It's Not Always Myocarditis!

Pediatr Cardiol. 2022 Dec;43(8):1922-1925. doi: 10.1007/s00246-022-02935-8. Epub 2022 May 27.

Authors

Adam W Powell^{1

2}, Elaine M Urbina^{3

4}, William B Orr⁵, Jesse E Hansen⁶, Shankar Baskar^{3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, 3333 Burnett Avenue, MLC 2003, Cincinnati, OH, 45229-3026, USA. [email protected].
² The Heart Institute, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA. [email protected].
³ Department of Pediatrics, University of Cincinnati College of Medicine, 3333 Burnett Avenue, MLC 2003, Cincinnati, OH, 45229-3026, USA.
⁴ The Heart Institute, Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center, Cincinnati, OH, USA.
⁵ Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, USA.
⁶ Division of Pediatric Cardiology, Department of Pediatrics, C.S. Mott Children's Hospital, Ann Arbor, MI, USA.

Abstract

COVID-19 associated myocarditis following mild infections is rare while incidental findings may be more common. A young athlete fully recovered from a mild COVID-19 infection presented with inferolateral T-wave inversions and left ventricular hypertrophy on imaging. Exercise testing aided in correctly diagnosing the patient with masked systolic hypertension.

Keywords: COVID-19; Cardiopulmonary exercise test; Masked hypertension; Return-to-play guidelines.

MeSH terms

Adolescent
Arrhythmias, Cardiac / complications
Athletes
COVID-19*
Electrocardiography
Humans
Hypertrophy, Left Ventricular / complications
Masked Hypertension*
Myocarditis* / diagnostic imaging
Myocarditis* / etiology