NewsOct | 11 | 2022
Research Spotlight: Successful Treatment of Delayed Localized Necrotizing Inflammatory Myositis after SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-1273 (“Moderna”) Vaccine: A Case Report
Jennifer Li, MD, a physician-investigator in the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy, and Immunology at Massachusetts General Hospital, is the lead author of a case study in Open Forum Infectious Diseases, Successful Treatment of Delayed Localized Necrotizing Inflammatory Myositis after SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-1273 (“Moderna”) Vaccine.
What was the question you set out to answer with this study?
Reported adverse reactions to the Moderna (mRNA-1273) vaccine against SARS-CoV-2 range from mild, local delayed cutaneous reactions to rarer, more serious reactions such as myocarditis. Here, we describe the presentation and successful treatment of delayed localized necrotizing inflammatory myositis following the third dose of the mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine (Moderna, Inc.; Spikevax®)
A 64-year-old man presented to the hospital 2.5 weeks after receiving his third dose of the SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-1273 (“Moderna”) vaccine with left upper arm pain, swelling, and fevers, which did not respond to broad-spectrum antibiotics.
MRI imaging and biopsy revealed localized necrotizing inflammatory myositis, and symptoms were responsive to prednisone.
What were your conclusions?
While our team of researchers was able to treat the myositis successfully, the mechanism of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine-related myositis is unclear and warrants additional study.
Seth Bloom, MD, PhD, a physician investigator in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Mass General, and Kimberly Blumenthal, MD, MSc,a physician investigator in the Division of Rheumatology, Allergy & Immunology at Mass General, are corresponding authors of the study.
Paper cited:
Jennifer Chen Li, MD, Jonathan Siglin, MD, Michael S Marshall, MD, PhD, Anat Stemmer-Rachamimov, MD, Seth M Bloom, MD, PhD, Kimberly G Blumenthal, MD, MSc, Successful Treatment of Delayed Localized Necrotizing Inflammatory Myositis after SARS-CoV-2 mRNA-1273 (“Moderna”) Vaccine: A Case Report, Open Forum Infectious Diseases, 2022;, ofac499, https://doi.org/10.1093/ofid/ofac499
About the Massachusetts General Hospital
Massachusetts General Hospital, founded in 1811, is the original and largest teaching hospital of Harvard Medical School. The Mass General Research Institute conducts the largest hospital-based research program in the nation, with annual research operations of more than $1 billion and comprises more than 9,500 researchers working across more than 30 institutes, centers and departments. In July 2022, Mass General was named #8 in the U.S. News & World Report list of "America’s Best Hospitals." MGH is a founding member of the Mass General Brigham healthcare system.