Heart Issues Detected Months After COVID-19 Vaccination: Study

Heart abnormalities were detected in some adolescents months after COVID-19 vaccination, according to a study. Researchers at Seattle Children’s Hospital reviewed cases of patients younger than 18 who went to the hospital with chest pain and elevated serum troponin levels, two key markers of heart inflammation, within a week of getting a second dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine. While 35 patients fit the criteria, 19 were excluded for various reasons, including receiving care in another state after the initial visit. Cardiac imaging of the remaining 16 patients, performed three to eight months after they were first examined, showed 11 had persistent late gadolinium enhancement, a heart abnormality, though at lower levels than months earlier. The follow-up imaging also revealed abnormal global longitudinal strain, a measure of heart function, in three-quarters of the patients, with little change from the initial examinations, as well as “significantly improved” measures of blood pumping and no …  » Read full article