COVID-19 and Pulmonary Embolism: Not a Coincidence

Tamburello, Adriana; Bruno, Giovanni; Marando, Marco

In December 2019, a novel coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2 was reported to be responsible for a cluster of acute atypical respiratory pneumonia cases in Wuhan, in Hubei province, China. The disease caused by this virus is called COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019). The virus is transmitted between humans and the outbreak was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) on 11 March 2020. Coagulopathy is a common abnormality in patients with COVID-19 due to inflammation, hypoxia, immobilisation, endothelial damage and diffuse intravascular coagulation. However, the data on this topic are still limited. Here we report the case of a man presenting with pneumonia complicated by bilateral pulmonary embolism LEARNING POINTS: SARS-CoV-2 is a novel infectious agent that causes COVID-19, which can manifest in several ways, affecting endothelial cells and most organs. There is growing evidence that SARS-CoV-2-mediated endothelial damage is due to direct viral injury and the systemic inflammatory response, possibly together with a cytokine storm. As endothelial damage can manifest as thromboembolic disease, such as pulmonary thromboembolism, appropriate anti-thrombotic preventive strategies should be followed, and proper screening and treatment for thromboembolic complications should be implemented.