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Concomitant pulmonary and neurological embolisation in a Down patient after SARS-CoV-2 vaccine: what is missing?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 January 2022

Arianna Di Molfetta*
Affiliation:
Department of Cardiology, Fabrizio Spaziani Hospital, Frosinone, Italy Department of Cardiac Surgery, Policlinico Gemelli Hospital, Roma, Italy
Sonia Volpe
Affiliation:
Department of Cardiology, Fabrizio Spaziani Hospital, Frosinone, Italy
Marco Cesario
Affiliation:
Department of Cardiology, Fabrizio Spaziani Hospital, Frosinone, Italy
Pasquale Mollo
Affiliation:
Department of Cardiology, Fabrizio Spaziani Hospital, Frosinone, Italy
Duino Boncompagni
Affiliation:
Department of Cardiology, Fabrizio Spaziani Hospital, Frosinone, Italy
Giancarlo Di Ruzza
Affiliation:
Department of Cardiology, Fabrizio Spaziani Hospital, Frosinone, Italy
Maurizio Menichelli
Affiliation:
Department of Cardiology, Fabrizio Spaziani Hospital, Frosinone, Italy
*
Author for correspondence: A. Di Molfetta, Department of Cardiology, Fabrizio Spaziani Hospital, Via Armando Fabi, Frosinone snc-03100, Italy. Tel: +00393496775951; Fax: +003907751883177. E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

A 40-year-old Down patient without previous cardiological history was admitted to our institution for dyspnoea after COVID-19 vaccine. CT scan revealed a pulmonary thromboembolism. One week later, he developed neurological impairment and CT scan evidenced a left parietal ischaemic lesion. Concomitantly, he underwent echocardiography showing an atrioventricular septal defect typically associated to Down syndrome and never diagnosed earlier. The diagnosis of paradoxical embolisation was then supposed. Echocardiography also revealed a severe right heart section dilatation, with bidirectional shunt on the septal defects and systemic right heart pressure. Down patients affected by CHD are more prone to develop pulmonary vasculopathy than non-syndromic patients. In this case, the pulmonary vasculopathy was further exacerbated by the pulmonary embolism and by the late diagnosis of CHD. Finally, an appropriate timely diagnosis of atrioventricular septal defect could potentially avoid the neurological complication in this patient.

Type
Brief Report
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2022. Published by Cambridge University Press

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References

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