Anti-inflammatory therapies for pericardial diseases in the COVID-19 pandemic: safety and potentiality

The COVID-19 pandemic is challenging our cardiovascular care of patients with heart diseases. In the setting of pericardial diseases, there are two possible different scenarios to consider: the patient being treated for pericarditis who subsequently becomes infected with SARS-CoV-2, and the patient with COVID-19 who develops pericarditis or pericardial effusion. In both conditions, clinicians may be doubtful regarding the safety of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), corticosteroids, colchicine, and biological agents, such as anti-IL1 agents (e.g. anakinra), that are the mainstay of therapy for pericarditis. For NSAIDs, there is no clear scientific evidence linking ibuprofen and other NSAIDs to worsening of COVID-19; however, it seems prudent to continue them, if necessary to control pericarditis, and on the other hand, to prefer paracetamol for fever and systemic symptoms related to COVID-19. Treatments with corticosteroids, colchicine, and anakinra appear well tolerated in the context of COVID-19 infection and are currently actively evaluated as potential therapeutic options for COVID infection at different stages of the disease. On this basis, currently most treatments for pericarditis do not appear contraindicated also in the presence of possible COVID-19 infection and should not be discontinued, and some (corticosteroids, colchicine, and anakinra) can be considered to treat both conditions.