Journal of thrombosis and thrombolysis
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J. Thromb. Thrombolysis · Apr 2021
High prevalence of early asymptomatic venous thromboembolism in anticoagulated COVID-19 patients hospitalized in general wards.
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is associated with coagulation activation and high incidence of venous thromboembolism (VTE) in severe patients despite routine thromboprophylaxis. Conflicting results exist regarding the epidemiology of VTE for unselected anticoagulated COVID-19 patients hospitalized in general wards. The aim of this study was to evaluate the prevalence of asymptomatic deep venous thrombosis (DVT) in unselected patients with COVID-19 recently hospitalized in general wards. ⋯ Compared to patients without DVT, patients with DVT were older and experienced poorer outcomes. In conclusion, prevalence of asymptomatic DVT is high in the first days of hospitalization of unselected COVID-19 patients in general wards and may be related to poor prognosis. Individualized assessment of thromboprophylaxis and early systematic screening for DVT is warranted in this context.
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The actual Coronavirus Disease (COVID 19) pandemic is due to Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), a member of the coronavirus family. Besides the respiratory involvement, COVID 19 patients frequently develop a pro-coagulative state caused by virus-induced endothelial dysfunction, cytokine storm and complement cascade hyperactivation. ⋯ Therefore, the correct understanding of the mechanisms underlying COVID-19 induced prothrombotic state can lead to a thorough assessment of the possible management strategies. Hence, we review the pathogenesis and therapy of COVID 19-related thrombosis disease, focusing on the available evidence on the possible treatment strategies and proposing an algorithm for the anticoagulation strategy based on disease severity.
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J. Thromb. Thrombolysis · Apr 2021
Thrombotic complications in 2928 patients with COVID-19 treated in intensive care: a systematic review.
A prothrombotic state is reported with severe COVID-19 infection, which can manifest in venous and arterial thrombotic events. Coagulopathy is reflective of more severe disease and anticoagulant thromboprophylaxis is recommended in hospitalized patients. However, the prevalence of thrombosis on the intensive care unit (ICU) remains unclear, including whether this is sufficiently addressed by conventional anticoagulant thromboprophylaxis. ⋯ Studies adopting systematic screening for venous thrombosis with Duplex ultrasound reported a significantly higher incidence of venous thrombosis compared to those relying on clinical suspicion (56.3% vs. 11.0%, p < 0.001). Despite thromboprophylaxis, there is a very high incidence of thrombotic complications in patients with COVID-19 on the ICU. Systematic screening identifies many thrombotic complications that would be missed by relying on clinical suspicion and should be employed, with consideration given to increased dose anticoagulant thromboprophylaxis, whilst awaiting results of prospective trials of anticoagulation in this cohort.