A case series of acute pericarditis following COVID-19 vaccination in the context of recent reports from Europe and the United States

We report nine events of acute pericarditis (AP) in eight patients following COVID-19 vaccination with BNT162b2 (6/9), AZD1222 (2/9) and mRNA-1273 (1/9).METHODS: All patients were referred for AP temporally linked with COVID-19 vaccination. Chest pain was the most common clinical manifestation. Alternative etiologies were excluded upon thorough diagnostic work up. AP diagnosis was established according to ESC guidelines.FINDINGS: Five events occurred after the first vaccine dose and four after the second. The mean age in this cohort was 65.8 ± 10.2 years and the men/women ratio 3/5. All events resolved without sequelae; two events were complicated by cardiac tamponade requiring emergent pericardial decompression. Hospitalization was required in four cases.INTERPRETATION: Although causality cannot be firmly established, AP has emerged as a possible complication following COVID-19 vaccination. Further investigation is indispensable to fully characterize this new entity.PMID:34635376 | PMC:PMC8491922 | DOI:10.1016/j.vaccine.2021.09.078

Source: Vaccine - October 12, 2021 Category: Allergy & Immunology Authors: George Lazaros Cleo Anastassopoulou Sophia Hatziantoniou Theodoros Kalos Stergios Soulaidopoulos Emilia Lazarou Charalambos Vlachopoulos Dimitrios Vassilopoulos Athanasios Tsakris Costas Tsioufis Source Type: research