Successful use of anakinra in a patient with COVID-19- associated pericarditis

Abstract

Since its recognition in December 2019 as a cause of pneumonia, SARS-CoV-2 infection has rapidly spread globally, causing a pandemic. Although it is an infectious disease, several distinct manifestations have been described in the setting of COVID-19, which result from the immune perturbations caused by this new Coronavirus. The heart is frequently involved in COVID-19 and is associated with severe outcomes. Pericarditis is rarely reported in COVID-19 patients and no reports on its treatment and outcome are available so far. Herein, we present a 33-year-old man with COVID-19-related pericarditis (COVID-19-RP) who was unresponsive to colchicine and nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, but was successfully treated with the IL-1R antagonist anakinra.