Imaging researchers warn of possible blood clot dangers from new coronavirus
Experts are warning radiologists to watch out for possible blood clot dangers in COVID-19 patients, according to new research.
The Radiological Society of North American released a barrage of information Thursday, April 23, highlighting this emerging clinical concern. That included a new report out of the Netherlands, exploring diagnosis and treatment considerations for physicians.
Radiologists must pay careful attention to the initial treatment of prothrombotic and thrombotic state, which can occur in a “substantial percentage” of patients affected by the virus, experts noted.
“Worldwide, COVID-19 is being treated as a primary pulmonary disease. From the analysis of all available current medical, laboratory and imaging data on COVID-19, it became clear that symptoms and diagnostic tests could not be explained by impaired pulmonary ventilation alone,” Edwin J.R. van Beek, MD, PhD, director of Edinburgh Imaging in Scotland and co-author of the report, said in an RSNA statement.
The imaging society noted that a strong association has been found between elevated D-dimer levels and poor prognosis in COVID-19 patients. Based on those concerns, the National Institute for Public Health of the Netherlands tasked a team of radiology and vascular medicine scientists to study this issue.
Their recommendations, depending on the patient’s condition, include prophylactic-dose heparin, chest computed tomography, CT pulmonary angiography and routine D-dimer testing. Beek and colleagues emphasized that respiratory failure may not be driven by distress in this system alone, but with microvascular thrombotic processes possibly playing a part.
“COVID-19 is more than a lung infection. It affects the vasculature of the lungs and other organs and has a high thrombosis risk with acute life-threatening events that require adequate treatment with anticoagulants based on laboratory monitoring with appropriate imaging tests as required,” Beek added.
You can read the full Dutch study here. In addition, RSNA’s Radiology journal has released two research letters and a case study on the topic, all found here.
Marty Stempniak has covered healthcare since 2012, with his byline appearing in the American Hospital Association's member magazine, Modern Healthcare and McKnight's. Prior to that, he wrote about village government and local business for his hometown newspaper in Oak Park, Illinois. He won a Peter Lisagor and Gold EXCEL awards in 2017 for his coverage of the opioid epidemic.