Chest pain and Raynaud’s phenomenon after COVID-19 vaccination in a patient previously diagnosed with systemic lupus erythematosus: a case report

Cardiovascular events, including pericarditis, myocarditis, and myocardial ischaemia, have been reported as complications following COVID-19 vaccination.

A 28-year-old Japanese woman diagnosed 10 years earlier with systemic lupus erythematosus and antiphospholipid syndrome was admitted to our hospital because of chest pain and Raynaud’s phenomenon. She had received a second dose of the COVID-19 BNT162b2 mRNA vaccine 28 days earlier. ¹²³I-β-methyl iodophenyl pentadecanoic acid (BMIPP) and ²⁰¹thallium dual myocardial single-photon emission computed tomography demonstrated mildly reduced perfusion of BMIPP in the mid-anterior wall of the left ventricle. Coronary angiography revealed normal coronary arteries; additionally, an endomyocardial biopsy was performed. Histopathological evaluation revealed a normal myocardium without cell infiltration. However, immunostaining for the severe acute respiratory coronavirus (SARS-CoV)/severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) spike protein was positive in the small intramural coronary arteries. The administration of azathioprine (50 mg/day) and amlodipine (5 mg/day) and increases in her prednisolone (10 mg/day) and aspirin doses led to improvements in the symptoms of the patient.

Our data lead us to speculate that two events in the timeline of the patient, namely, receiving COVID-19 vaccination and the presence of SARS-CoV/SARS-CoV-2 spike protein in small intramural coronary arteries, may be related to the myocardial microangiopathy observed in this patient.