Introduction: Involvement of the large vessels is rarely reported and poorly understood in cases of Corona virus disease-19 (COVID-19). The aim of this study is to present a series of cases with large vessel thrombosis (LVT).
Methods: This is a multicenter prospective case series study. The participants were consecutive in order. All the patients were diagnosed as cases of COVID-19 with documented LVT were included in the study. Large vessels were defined as any vessel equal or larger than popliteal artery. The mean duration of follow up was 4 months.
Results: The study included 22 cases, 19 (86.4%) cases were male, 3 (13.6%) patients were females. The age ranged from 23 to 76 with a mean of 48.4 years. Four (18.2%) cases had pulmonary embolism confirmed by IV contrast enhanced chest CT scan. All of the cases showed pulmonary parenchymal ground glass opacities (GGO) and high D-Dimers (ranging from 1267 to 6038 ng/ml with a mean of 3601 ng/ml).
Conclusion: COVID-19 is a hidden risk factor of LVT that may endanger the patient's life and lead to major amputation. Despite therapeutic anticoagulants still all COVID-19 patients are at risk for LVT, a high index of suspicion should be created and with minimal symptoms surgical consultation should be obtained.
Keywords: COVID-19; Ischemia; SARS-CoV-2; Thrombosis.
© 2020 The Authors.