John RV, Subash A, Raveendran AV. Perinatal asphyxia and left ventricular mass: Redefining cardiac assessment. World J Clin Cases 2026; 14(20): 120254 [DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.120254]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Arkiath Veettil Raveendran, MD, Chief Physician, FRCP, Department of Internal Medicine, Government Medical College, Medical College Junction, Mavoor Road, Kozhikode 673010, Kerala, India. raveendranav@yahoo.co.in
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Cardiac & Cardiovascular Systems
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review-article
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John RV, Subash A, Raveendran AV. Perinatal asphyxia and left ventricular mass: Redefining cardiac assessment. World J Clin Cases 2026; 14(20): 120254 [DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.120254]
World J Clin Cases. Jul 16, 2026; 14(20): 120254 Published online Jul 16, 2026. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.120254
Perinatal asphyxia and left ventricular mass: Redefining cardiac assessment
Regi Varghese John, Anupama Subash, Arkiath Veettil Raveendran
Regi Varghese John, Specialist in Internal Medicine, Badr Al Samaa Hospital, Barka 320, Al Batinah South, Oman
Anupama Subash, University of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario N9B 3P4, Canada
Arkiath Veettil Raveendran, Department of Internal Medicine, Government Medical College, Kozhikode 673010, Kerala, India
Author contributions: John RV, Subash A, and Raveendran AV, collected the data, and wrote and revised the manuscript; Raveendran AV designed the manuscript. All the author read and approved the final version of the manuscript to be published.
AI contribution statement: Free versions of ChatGPT, Grammarly, DeepL, Claude and Jenni AI were only used for grammar revision, language and table polishing in manuscript preparation. No manuscript text, research design, data analysis, result interpretation or figures were AI-generated; all research ideas, data and conclusions are original to the authors. All AI-processed content was fully checked and validated by authors, who bear complete responsibility for the manuscript’s originality, accuracy and integrity.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Corresponding author: Arkiath Veettil Raveendran, MD, Chief Physician, FRCP, Department of Internal Medicine, Government Medical College, Medical College Junction, Mavoor Road, Kozhikode 673010, Kerala, India. raveendranav@yahoo.co.in
Received: February 24, 2026 Revised: June 3, 2026 Accepted: June 24, 2026 Published online: July 16, 2026 Processing time: 138 Days and 13.1 Hours
Abstract
Perinatal asphyxia is a major cause of neonatal morbidity and mortality, with cardiovascular involvement often underrecognized despite its critical impact on systemic perfusion and multi-organ outcomes. While prior studies have largely focused on functional impairment and biochemical markers of myocardial injury, emerging evidence highlights the importance of structural cardiac alterations, particularly changes in left ventricular mass. Integrating echocardiographic assessment of left ventricular mass into the evaluation of perinatal asphyxia may enhance early risk stratification, guide hemodynamic management, and improve long-term cardiovascular surveillance. In this opinion review, we analyze the original study, which address this issue and tries to bridge an important gap in neonatal cardiology, where normative reference data and structural risk markers remain limited, especially in low-resource settings.
Core Tip: Structural cardiac assessment, particularly left ventricular mass estimation, provides complementary information to functional echocardiographic parameters and biochemical markers of myocardial injury, in neonates with perinatal asphyxia and may enhance early risk stratification, guide hemodynamic management, and improve long-term cardiovascular surveillance. Left ventricular mass correlates with gestational age, birth weight, and asphyxia severity and provide a framework for risk stratification and targeted intervention.
