Understanding and prevention of D-dimer elevation in coronavirus disease 2019 in traditional Chinese medicine / 中华危重病急救医学

ABSTRACT

2019 Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) infection caused a pandemic in the world. From the reported cases in the literatures, the level of D-dimer in patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is positively correlated with the severity of illness, which needs the attention of clinical workers. According to Western medicine, the increase of D-dimer is related to the hyperactivity of fibrinolytic system and the shortening of prothrombin time (PT), resulting in excessive production and degradation of plasma fibrin and hypercoagulable state of blood, while traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) believes that the above syndromes belong to the pathogenesis of "blood stasis" according to TCM theories. Over the years, TCM has a significant effect on promoting blood circulation, removing blood stasis and improving microcirculation. This article reviews the mechanism, clinical significance, understanding of TCM and common methods of promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis caused by 2019-nCoV, in order to provide ideas for the prevention and treatment of impaired blood coagulation in patients with COVID-19.