Persistent hypercoagulable state in COVID-19: A case series of COVID-19 associated pulmonary embolism

• Published in: Journal of global infectious diseases Vol. 13; no. 1; pp. 38 - 41
• Main Authors: Chan, Kok, Lim, Su, Shaaban, Hamid, Guron, Gunwant, Slim, Jihad
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: India Wolters Kluwer India Pvt. Ltd 01-01-2021; Medknow Publications and Media Pvt. Ltd; Medknow Publications & Media Pvt. Ltd; Wolters Kluwer - Medknow; Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications
• Subjects: anticoagulation; Apixaban; Case Series; coronavirus disease 2019; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; Health aspects; hypercoagulable; Pulmonary embolism; Pulmonary embolisms; Rivaroxaban; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; China; Anticoagulation; hypercoagulable; pulmonary embolism; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; coronavirus disease 2019
• ISSN: 0974-777X; 0974-8245
• DOI: 10.4103/jgid.jgid_180_20

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has swept through the world with millions of cases and hundreds of thousands of deaths. COVID-19-associated coagulopathy has been recognized as the major cause of morbidity and mortality. To the best of our knowledge, a majority of the cases of coagulopathy have been reported in patients with moderate-to-severe COVID-19 and limited to observations during the recovery/postcytokine storm state. Herein, we report a case series of two patients with COVID-19 who developed pulmonary embolism in the late phase of the disease. This raised the hypothesis that the risk of hypercoagulability in patients with COVID-19 can persist until the recovery phase, which would warrant a follow-up with D-dimer and fibrinogen trending, as well as postdischarge thromboprophylaxis for at least 2 weeks during the recovery phase.