It’s interesting to see the potential haemotological effects and impact of COVID-19 being studied. From Bloomberg:
“We’ve been continuing to collect data on stroke patients and we’ve learned a lot more about the way Covid-19 is causing clots in other parts of the body,†says Johanna Fifi, a neuroendovascular surgeon at Mount Sinai Health System and an author of that article. The clots are also found in the lungs and kidneys. “Clotting seems to be a very prominent feature of this disease,†she says.
“This is causing more thrombosis than any other virus,†says Pascal Jabbour, a physician at Thomas Jefferson University Hospital. “We’ve never seen that before.†Jabbour has also been collecting data on stroke patients and has found that Covid-19 positive cases are not only younger, but are also less likely to survive after the usual surgical treatment to remove clots. The mortality rate is about 43%, as opposed to about 5% in typical cases.
Schulman says evidence is growing that Covid-19 is affecting blood vessels in people with no obvious symptoms of stroke or blood clots. People with severe Covid-19 have an off-the-charts elevated blood marker, called D-dimer, which is associated with blood clots. Levels of about 500 signal a serious clot risk, but patients with severe Covid-19, he says, “show the highest numbers most of us have ever seen.†The D-dimer tests only measure levels up to 22,000 — and many patients are clearly beyond that.
It would be particularly interesting to know if there are other factors that impel this response or if these clotting effects are present in all patients with COVID-19.
This was part of our impetus to add both steroids and anticoagulants to our standard regimen. I think most people believe it results from the body’s response to the virus, not directly from the virus. Dont think we know enough yet to be sure.
Steve