%0 Case Reports
%T Arginine vasopressin deficiency onset after COVID-19 vaccination with positive anti-rabphilin-3A antibodies: a case report and literature review.
%A Takizawa H
%A Goto H
%A Uchida T
%A Aoyama S
%A Fujisawa H
%A Iwata N
%A Suzuki A
%A Sugimura Y
%A Watada H
%J BMC Endocr Disord
%V 24
%N 1
%D 2024 Aug 6
%M 39107738
%F 3.263
%R 10.1186/s12902-024-01664-8
%X BACKGROUND: Arginine vasopressin deficiency (AVP-D) can occur due to various conditions, so clarifying its cause is important for deciding treatment strategy. Although several cases of AVP-D following coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19) infection or COVID-19 vaccination have been reported, the diagnosis of the underlying disease has not been reported in most cases.
METHODS: A 75-year-old woman who presented with polydipsia and polyuria 9 weeks after contracting COVID-19 and 5 weeks after receiving the SARS-CoV-2 vaccination, leading to the final diagnosis of AVP-D 8 months after the first appearance of symptoms. Interestingly, pituitary magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) still revealed stalk enlargement frequently observed in patients with SARS-CoV-2 vaccination-induced AVP-D. Although this finding could not rule out any malignancies, we additionally measured anti-rabphilin-3A antibodies, a known marker for lymphocytic infundibulo-neurohypophysitis (LINH), and found that the results were positive, strongly suggesting LINH as the cause of this disease. Thus, we avoided pituitary biopsy. At the follow-up MRI conducted 12 months after the initial consultation, enlargement of the pituitary stalk was still observed.
CONCLUSIONS: We experienced a case with LINH probably induced by SARS-CoV-2 vaccination. In SARS-CoV-2 vaccination-related LINH, unlike typical LINH, there is a possibility of persistent pituitary stalk enlargement on MRI images for an extended period, posing challenges in differential diagnosis from other conditions. Pituitary stalk enlargement and positive anti-rabphilin-3A antibodies may help in the diagnosis of AVP-D induced by SARS-CoV-2 vaccination.