Very severe immune aplastic anemia after mRNA vaccination against COVID-19 responds well to immunosuppressive therapy: clinical characteristics and comparison to previous reports.

OBJECTIVE: Various hematologic side effects of the Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination has been reported, and most of them are thought to be related to autoimmune pathways. To the best of our knowledge, only few cases of post-COVID-19 vaccination aplastic anemia (AA) have been reported and there is no reported Korean case of COVID-19 vaccine-induced AA yet. We present a case of severe immune-mediated AA that developed after the administration of a messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA) gene-based spike protein vaccine against COVID-19, which responded well to immunosuppressive therapy, and discuss the probable pathogenesis of AA and the implication of vaccination along with a comparison of previous cases reported. METHODS: A 53-year-old Korean man developed sudden pancytopenia three months after COVID-19 vaccination. To evaluate the cause of pancytopenia, a bone marrow study was performed. RESULTS: A diagnosis of AA was made through the bone marrow study and he received triple immunosuppressive therapy (IST). After triple IST for five months, his blood cell count was improved and maintained without transfusion and his follow-up bone marrow examination showed improved cellularity. CONCLUSION: COVID-19 vaccine might be associated with the development of immune-mediated AA. Prompt hematologic evaluation should be performed when there are symptoms or signs suggestive of cytopenia after COVID-19 vaccination. Although the clinical outcome of post-vaccination AA varies, a good prognosis can be possible for patients with COVID-19 vaccination-induced AA.

Association of Lupus Anticoagulant status with Disease Course in SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) Infection.

Background: We investigated the importance of lupus anticoagulant (LA) in patients with SARS-CoV-2. Methods: Medical records of 41 SARS-CoV-2 infected patients were reviewed. Patients were classified into two groups according to the frequency of positive LA test results: "LA (-)" and "LA (+) ≥1" (LA positive at least once). Statistical analysis was performed to determine the association between LA presence and change in LA test results and disease course according to both hospital days (HD) and days after diagnosis (DD). Results: The prevalence of LA was 51.2%. Averagely, the first change in LA test result occurred during DD 12-13 and between HD 9-10. The second change occurred on DD 15-16 and HD 13-14. The presence of LA was associated with severe disease (P = .004) but was not associated with thrombotic complications or mortality. The change of results from negative to positive or vice versa or the frequency of the changes was not associated with disease severity, thrombotic complications, or mortality. Conclusions: LA positivity can be regarded as one of the findings suggesting more serious SARS-CoV-2 infection.