Pulmonary embolism in patients with severe COVID-19 treated with systemic low-dose thrombolytic therapy: A case series.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been associated with respiratory failure and high mortality. Hypercoagulability and thromboembolic complications have been found in a high percentage of patients amongst which, pulmonary embolism (PE) is the most common. Currently, there are no guidelines on using thrombolysis therapy in COVID-19 patients who developed PE. We present five survivors aged 30-75 years old with confirmed COVID-19. All cases were proven by computed tomography pulmonary angiogram (CTPA) to have PE treated with low-dose recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rtPA). PE should be suspected in all COVID-19 patients with rapid worsening of dyspnea, desaturation, unexplained shock, and increased level of D-dimer and fibrinogen. In our cases, PE developed despite preventative anticoagulation regimens with low molecular weight heparin. After thrombolytic therapy, all patients showed improvement in partial-arterial-oxygen-pressure to inspired oxygen-fraction ratio (arterial partial pressure of oxygen/inspired oxygen fraction ratio). D-dimer showed elevation after thrombolytic therapy and decreased in the following days. Fibrinogen levels decreased following thrombolytic therapy. Current anticoagulation regimens seem insufficient to halt the course of thrombosis, and thrombolytic therapy may be beneficial for patients with severe COVID-19 and PE. Systemic thrombolysis therapy is a double-edged sword, and clinicians must balance between benefit and risk of bleeding.

Fatal iliopsoas and rectus sheath hemorrhage in a critically ill patient with COVID-19 on therapeutic anticoagulation.

Pulmonary embolism and thrombosis are two common postmortem findings in novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the fact which led experts to include anticoagulants in the standard management of COVID-19. However, at least until now, no guidelines stated the exact safe yet optimal dose of anticoagulants. We report a case of a 65-year-old man admitted to our hospital with severe acute respiratory distress syndrome due to COVID-19. He showed remarkable improvement during the first 10 days of treatment at our facility but subsequently developed spontaneous iliopsoas hemorrhage (IPH). We discontinued antithrombotic and anticoagulant agents as soon as we confirmed the IPH from the abdominal computed tomography scan. His condition worsened even after he received adequate blood transfusion sets and eventually developed disseminated intravascular coagulation. Due to the limitation of our hospital, we could not perform stent grafting and angiographic embolization. He finally died 6 days after the occurrence of IPH. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first case of COVID-19 with IPH in Indonesia. As a developing country, many hospitals in Indonesia do not have stent grafting and angiographic embolization. This condition urges the dose recommendation for anticoagulant therapy to provide safe and efficient management for COVID-19.