Massive Pulmonary Thromboembolism in Patients with COVID-19; Report of Three Cases
Archives of Academic Emergency Medicine,
Vol. 8 No. 1 (2020),
1 January 2020
,
Page e58
https://doi.org/10.22037/aaem.v8i1.748
Abstract
COVID-19 is a novel infectious disease, which has challenged people all around the world. As of today, healthcare practitioners and researchers have made great effort to understand the characteristics and clinical presentations of the disease; however, the existing literature is still incomplete in this regard. A growing body of evidence indicates that coagulopathies and thromboembolic events are of utmost importance in COVID-19 patients and are related to poor prognosis. Here, we report three ICU admitted cases of COVID-19, in which massive pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) occurred a few days after disease onset. Unfortunately, one of the patients did not survive and two were treated; one with thrombectomy and other with antithrombotic agents. It seems that severe cases of COVID-19 are at risk for developing PTE and in-charge physicians should be prepared and plan for anticoagulant prophylaxis using low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH).
- Pulmonary embolism
- COVID-19
- severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
- venous thromboembolism
- thrombolytic therapy
- clinical deterioration
How to Cite
References
World Metrics. COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak: World Metrics; [Available from: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/.
Smeeth L, Cook C, Thomas S, Hall AJ, Hubbard R, Vallance P. Risk of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism after acute infection in a community setting. The Lancet. 2006;367(9516):1075-9.
Heit JA. Epidemiology of venous thromboembolism. Nature Reviews Cardiology. 2015;12(8):464.
Guan W-j, Ni Z-y, Hu Y, Liang W-h, Ou C-q, He J-x, et al. Clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 in China. New England Journal of Medicine. 2020.
Han H, Yang L, Liu R, Liu F, Wu K-l, Li J, et al. Prominent changes in blood coagulation of patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection. Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine (CCLM). 2020;1(ahead-of-print).
Tang N, Li D, Wang X, Sun Z. Abnormal coagulation parameters are associated with poor prognosis in patients with novel coronavirus pneumonia. Journal of Thrombosis and Haemostasis. 2020.
Klok F, Kruip M, van der Meer N, Arbous M, Gommers D, Kant K, et al. Incidence of thrombotic complications in critically ill ICU patients with COVID-19. Thrombosis Research. 2020.
Guo J, Huang Z, Lin L, Lv J. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVIDâ€19) and Cardiovascular Disease: A Viewpoint on the Potential Influence of Angiotensinâ€Converting Enzyme Inhibitors/Angiotensin Receptor Blockers on Onset and Severity of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Infection. Journal of the American Heart Association. 2020;9(7):e016219.
Hamming I, Timens W, Bulthuis M, Lely A, Navis G, van Goor H. Tissue distribution of ACE2 protein, the functional receptor for SARS coronavirus. A first step in understanding SARS pathogenesis. The Journal of Pathology: A Journal of the Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. 2004;203(2):631-7.
Giannis D, Ziogas IA, Gianni P. Coagulation disorders in coronavirus infected patients: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-1, MERS-CoV and lessons from the past. Journal of Clinical Virology. 2020:104362.
- Abstract Viewed: 529 times
- PDF Downloaded: 229 times
