ACUTE PERICARDITIS CAUSED BY COVID-19 INFECTION AND ITS MANAGEMENT

ABSTRACT

SESSION TITLE Extraordinary Cardiovascular Reports SESSION TYPE Rapid Fire Case Reports PRESENTED ON 10/18/2022 0135 pm - 0235 pm INTRODUCTION: The incidence of acute pericarditis is 3.32 per 100,000 person-years (11). Patone et. Al, found that 0.001% had acute pericarditis after a dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 11.9% were COVID-19 positive (11). 1.5% of patients with COVID- 19 developed new onset pericarditis and six-month all-cause mortality was 15.5% (2). CASE PRESENTATION 48-year-old male with no known past medical history who presented with acute onset of sharp, left-sided chest pain and associated with dyspnea on exertion. He was not vaccinated for COVID-19 and denied being around any sick contacts. On physical examination he was afebrile, normotensive and saturating 99% on room air. EKG initially showed diffuse ST elevations in leads II,III, aVF, V2-V6. Initial high sensitivity trop was <6. He was incidentally found to be COVID positive. Initial echocardiogram was not suggestive of wall motion abnormalities or pericardial effusions. He was not initiated on management for COVID-19 pneumonia as he was asymptomatic and on room air. He was started on colchicine 0.6 mg BID and ibuprofen 400 TID for pericarditis treatment and symptoms resolved on follow up. DISCUSSION: COVID-19 causing pericarditis is relatively rare and our patient presented with pericarditis and no associated respiratory symptoms. The clinical signs of pericarditis include a pleuritic or sharp chest pain relieved by leaning forwards, a pericardial friction rub auscultated near the left sternal border and EKG changes including diffuse ST elevations or PR depressions seen in the leads I,II,III, aVL, aVF and the precordial leads V2-V6 (3). The common complications seen with pericarditis are pericardial effusion, cardiac tamponade, and constrictive pericarditis (1). A common etiology for pericarditis is a viral illness which can be seen to precede the cardiac symptoms and be seen as flu-like symptoms or as gastrointestinal symptoms. Treatment is with colchicine and NSAIDs. Aspirin has been the drug of choice in patient's who present with pericarditis following a myocardial infarction, solely because the other NSAIDs have been studied and shown to interfere with myocardial healing (3)(4). NSAIDs were believed to be harmful in patient's diagnosed with COVID, due to upregulation of ACE2 receptors in multiple sites which is used by SARS-COV-2 as a point of entry into cells (9). Drake et. Al, looked at patients with COVID-19 pneumonia, and found use of NSAIDs did not play any significant role in mortality (10). First-line therapy for pericarditis is NSAIDs and colchicine. Second line therapy can be with corticosteroids and refractory therapy is generally with intravenous human immunoglobulins, Azathioprine or anti-IL1 agents such as Anakinra (12). CONCLUSIONS: COVID 19 continues to present with varying levels of comorbidities. Timely diagnosis and intervention of pericarditis precipitated by COVID-19 can lead to near complete recovery and prevent fatal outcomes. Reference #1 Dababneh E, Siddique MS. Pericarditis. [Updated 2021 Aug 11]. In StatPearls [Internet]. Treasure Island (FL) StatPearls Publishing;2021 Jan-. Available from https//www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK431080/ Reference #2 Buckley BJR, Harrison SL, Fazio-Eynullayeva E, Underhill P, Lane DA, Lip GYH. Prevalence and clinical outcomes of myocarditis and pericarditis in 718,365 COVID-19 patients. Eur J Clin Invest. 2021 Nov;51(11)e13679. doi 10.1111/eci.13679. Epub 2021 Sep 18. PMID 34516657;PMCID PMC8646627.1 Reference #3 Little WC, Freeman GL. Pericardial disease. Circulation. 2006 Mar 28;113(12)1622-32. doi 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.105.561514. Erratum in Circulation. 2007 Apr 17;115(15)e406. Dosage error in article text. PMID 16567581. DISCLOSURES No relevant relationships by Atika Azhar No relevant relationships by Berty Baskaran No relevant relationships by Andres Cordova Sanchez No relevant relationships by Harvir Gambhir No relevant relationships by Hanish Jai