Carotid free-floating thrombus during COVID-19 vaccine era: causality or not?

Neurol Sci. 2022 Nov;43(11):6179-6183. doi: 10.1007/s10072-022-06307-1. Epub 2022 Aug 3.

Abstract

Carotid free-floating thrombus (FFT) is very rarely diagnosed in patients with acute ischemic stroke. It is a real clinical emergency due to the significant risk of death associated with thromboembolic complications. Herein, we present three patients with ischemic stroke caused by carotid FFT after less than 20 days from administration of mRNA vaccine BNT162b1 (Pfizer/BioNTech) for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome-CoronaVirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). To our knowledge, these are the first cases reporting carotid FTT following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination.

Keywords: Acute ischemic stroke; COVID-19 vaccine; Free-floating thrombus; SARS-CoV-2; mRNA vaccine BNT162b1.

MeSH terms

  • BNT162 Vaccine
  • COVID-19 Vaccines / adverse effects
  • COVID-19*
  • Humans
  • Ischemic Stroke* / diagnostic imaging
  • Ischemic Stroke* / etiology
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Thrombosis* / diagnostic imaging
  • Thrombosis* / etiology
  • mRNA Vaccines

Substances

  • COVID-19 Vaccines
  • BNT162 Vaccine