NEW AUTOPSY STUDY - Cardiac Micro-Scars in Sudden Death Following COVID-19 Vaccination

Corroborates our prior research on COVID-19 vaccine-induced cardiac arrest, reinforcing the link between myocardial scarring, arrhythmias, and sudden death.

by Nicolas Hulscher, MPH

The study titled, Cardiac Multiple Micro-Scars: An Autopsy Study, was just published in JACC: Case Reports:

Background

Unexplained cardiac arrest is often attributed to a patient’s underlying disease. However, it is well known that an autopsy can reveal pathologies that were not noticed before death.

Case Summary

Multiple micro-scars (MMS) found in the myocardium of 3 patients who died of unexplained cardiac arrest were presented at our clinicopathology conference. Upon review of the clinical record, patients with MMS before death had arrhythmia (ie, atrial fibrillation and nonsustained ventricular tachycardia, including new onset). Interestingly, MMS were found in the left ventricle, the junction of the pulmonary vein and left atrium, and the right ventricle and right atrium. All 3 patients had histories of COVID-19 booster vaccination, and 1 of the 3 patients had a history of COVID-19.

Discussion

For patients with unexplained cardiac arrest complicated with arrhythmia, cardiac MMS is given as the differential background disease.

All three patients had received multiple COVID-19 booster injections (Patient 1: 5 doses, Patient 2: 5 doses, Patient 3: 6 doses). One patient had a confirmed history of COVID-19 infection.

The Authors speculate a connection between COVID-19 vaccination and cardiac scarring due to:

• Spike protein production, triggering immune activation, inflammation, microvascular injury, and fibrosis—leading to myocardial scarring and electrical instability.

• Microvascular injury and thrombotic microangiopathy, causing localized ischemia and scarring.

Patients exhibited arrhythmias before death, including atrial fibrillation and nonsustained ventricular tachycardia. Micro-scars were notably found in regions associated with atrial fibrillation origins, such as the pulmonary vein-left atrium junction. The scars appeared evenly spaced in the myocardium, suggesting a systemic inflammatory or microvascular process:

This study provides further insight into the syndrome known as COVID-19 vaccine-induced cardiac arrest, which we previously elucidated in our recently published paper, Risk Stratification for Future Cardiac Arrest After COVID-19 Vaccination. Our prior research identified subclinical myopericarditis and small patches of myocardial inflammation or fibrosis as potential triggers for reentrant ventricular tachycardia, ultimately leading to sudden cardiac arrest. Notably, our work also highlighted the presence of vaccine-derived Spike protein in myocardial tissue, implicating it as a driver of persistent cardiac inflammation and injury.

The detection of multiple micro-scars (MMS) in this study aligns with our proposed mechanism, where Spike protein-induced microvascular injury and inflammatory responses may lead to myocardial scarring, electrical instability, and lethal arrhythmias. Given that small myocardial lesions can be missed on routine imaging or autopsy, our findings further reinforce the necessity for systematic risk stratification—including biomarker assessment for circulating Spike protein, cardiac imaging, and histopathological analyses—to identify individuals at heightened risk of post-vaccination cardiac events.

Unfortunately, no testing for Spike protein or vaccine mRNA was conducted in the MMS study. Such testing should be a standard part of autopsy investigations following COVID-19 vaccination, as outlined in our study Delayed Fatal Pulmonary Hemorrhage Following Covid-19 Vaccination: Case Report, Batch Analysis, And Proposed Autopsy Checklist:

As indicated by our study, A Systematic Review of Autopsy Findings in Deaths After COVID-19 Vaccination, the cardiovascular system is the most frequently implicated in COVID-19 vaccine-induced deaths. Notably, sudden cardiac death was identified as the cause of death in 35% of positively adjudicated cases:

COVID-19 vaccine-induced cardiac arrests are expected, given that the vast majority of the population received at least one dose of a cardiotoxic mRNA injection. Our study, Excess Cardiopulmonary Arrest and Mortality after COVID-19 Vaccination in King County, Washington, found a 1,236% surge in excess cardiac arrest deaths following the mass vaccination campaign among a sample size of 2 million COVID-19 vaccinated individuals:

Nicolas Hulscher, MPH

Epidemiologist and Foundation Administrator, McCullough Foundation

www.mcculloughfnd.org

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