Early cardiovascular involvement in dengue fever: A prospective study with two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography.

Cardiac abnormalities in dengue infection have been conventionally identified by clinical manifestations. The primary objective of our prospective observational study was to assess true cardiovascular involvement and early myocarditis in 150 hospitalised confirmed cases of dengue fever through myocardial strain detection using two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography. Myocarditis was defined on the basis of European Society of Cardiology (ESC) 2013 criteria. Cardiac biomarkers, namely, creatine phosphokinase myocardial band was elevated in 28.6% and Troponin-T in 23.3% patients. Electrocardiography was abnormal in 64.6% while 6% patients had two-dimensional structural echocardiographic abnormalities. Myocardial dysfunction was suspected in 27.3% based on ESC criteria and strain analysis. The severe dengue group had lower longitudinal strain [-16.4 (6.3)] and circumferential strain [-15.7 (6.7)]. Two-dimensional speckle tracking echocardiography was found to be useful in improving the understanding of early myocardial mechanics in dengue fever.