ABSTRACT
Background and Aim: To compare the characteristics of patients with CoViD-positive pneumonia with patients with non-CoViD interstitial pneumonia. Materials and Methods: Two homogeneous groups of hospitalized patients with pneumonia on CT were identified: 38 with a mean age of 72 years (10 males and 8 females) positive for SARS-CoV- 2 and 38 patients with a mean age of 72 years ( 9 males and 9 females) suffering from non-CoViD interstitial pneumonia. Clinical, laboratory and instrumental data were compared. The degree of severity of pneumonia was compared with the presence of diabetes, heart failure, chronic renal failure. There are no significant differences between the two groups for the relationship between comorbidities, length of hospital stay and severity of pneumonia. Results: Significant differences were observed in the coagulation parameters: the most significant statistic was the difference in the PT and PTT alterations between the two groups: with the chiquadrate a significance <0.05 with values of longer PTTs. Higher values of fibrinogen and dimer in CoViD positive patients as well as the response to anticoagulant therapy significantly reduced hospital stay in CoViD positive cases. Conclusions: This study, with the limitations of such a small number of cases, has shown that thrombotic complications are more significant in CoViD pneumonia than in other forms of pneumonia. Anticoagulation targets should be suggested in these patients as well as specific CoViD related coagulopathy studies.