Prenatal and Neonatal Pulmonary Thrombosis as a Potential Complication of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Late Pregnancy

Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Apr 21;24(8):7629. doi: 10.3390/ijms24087629.

Abstract

Neonatal venous thrombosis is a rare condition that can be iatrogenic or occur due to viral infections or genetic mutations. Thromboembolic complications are also commonly observed as a result of SARS-CoV-2 infections. They can affect pediatric patients, especially the ones suffering from multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children (MIS-C) or multisystem inflammatory syndrome in neonates (MIS-N). The question remains whether the maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection during pregnancy can lead to thromboembolic complications in fetuses and neonates. We report on a patient born with an embolism in the arterial duct, left pulmonary artery, and pulmonary trunk, who presented several characteristic features of MIS-N, suspecting that the cause might have been the maternal SARS-CoV2 infection in late pregnancy. Multiple genetic and laboratory tests were performed. The neonate presented only with a positive result of IgG antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. He was treated with low molecular weight heparin. Subsequent echocardiographic tests showed that the embolism dissolved. More research is necessary to evaluate the possible neonatal complications of maternal SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Keywords: COVID-19 complications; SARS-CoV-2; neonatal thrombosis; pulmonary thrombosis.

Publication types

  • Case Reports

MeSH terms

  • COVID-19* / complications
  • Child
  • Ductus Arteriosus*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Infant, Newborn
  • Male
  • Parturition
  • Pregnancy
  • Pregnancy Complications, Infectious*
  • RNA, Viral
  • SARS-CoV-2
  • Venous Thrombosis* / drug therapy
  • Venous Thrombosis* / etiology
  • Vitamins

Substances

  • RNA, Viral
  • Vitamins

Supplementary concepts

  • pediatric multisystem inflammatory disease, COVID-19 related

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.