Ouch! My Chest... Pfizer-biontech COVID-19 Vaccination Induced Acute Myopericarditis: A Case Report

Introduction: During the pediatric trials for Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine the patient population was limited, likely leading to an inappreciable amount of adverse events. As more of the healthy adolescent male population began receiving the COVID-19 vaccination, cases of myocarditis shortly after became more frequently seen.

Case Description: A previously well 15-year-old obese male presented to a pediatric ER with 3 days of left arm pain and 1 day of acute left-sided chest pain three days after receiving his second Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in his left anterior deltoid area. The patient felt unwell afterwards with myalgias, headache, numbness, tingling, emesis, and 1-day history of fever of 38.8°C. He denied feelings of dizziness, syncope, palpitations, change in pain with position or deep breaths. Motrin and Tums did not seem to provide any relief. He had no history of recent viral illness and no known COVID-19 exposure. Initial evaluation included a normal chest X-ray and normal sinus rhythm on EKG.

Laboratory work revealed elevated troponin-I at 3.18 ng/mL, elevated Total CK at 399 units/L, CK-MB at 19 ng/mL, and BNP <10 pg/mL. Cardiology was consulted and following a normal echocardiogram, the patient was sent for a stat cardiac MRI. The imaging revealed acute myopericarditis with a small pericardial effusion. Mild patchy delayed subepicardial enhancement was also noted in the mid cavity and basal posterolateral wall (suggestive of post-inflammatory scarring related to localized myocarditis.) During this time, CK-MB and Troponin-I continued to trend upwards. The patient was then started on standard treatment with Ibuprofen 800 mg Q6H and pantoprazole for gastric protection. His CK-MB peaked at 174 and Troponin-I at 26 which both subsequently trended downwards and normalized prior to discharge.

Discussion: Patients who present with chest pain require a broad differential to encompass other possible etiologies including Coxsackie virus, Echovirus, Mycoplasma, EBV, and even Syphilis. Infectious diseases also followed along with the patient throughout his hospital course. All work-up for other potential causes remained negative. 1 week after presentation, his cardiac markers returned to baseline normal values.

Conclusion: The study included close to 3,000 adolescents with only 754 ranging in the 16-17 age group further emphasizing the limited power of the study. Myocarditis and pericarditis are known, however rare, side effect of vaccinations and is seen more commonly in males. As the time period between receiving the COVID-19 vaccination and presenting with cardiac symptoms is short it is crucial to provide rapid care and adequate treatment.