Thrombosis and Thromboembolism Related to COVID‐19 A clarion call for obtaining solid estimates from large‐scale multicenter data

Barco, Stefano; Konstantinides, Stavros V

The clinical spectrum of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID‐19) is wide, ranging from minor, non‐specific symptoms to severe pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, multi‐organ involvement and shock [1‐3]. In severe cases, the cytokine storm following the viral infection precipitates an acute systemic inflammatory response and diffuse endothelial damage, which may, in combination with hypoxia, immobilization and underlying risk factors, result in potentially life‐threatening venous and arterial thrombotic events [4‐6]. In fact, clinical and laboratory findings reported in patients with COVID‐19 since the beginning of this outbreak frequently include hemostatic abnormalities, which have been associated with an unfavorable in‐hospital outcome in preliminary reports [7‐9].