COVID-19 and acute pulmonary embolism: what should be considered to indicate a computed tomography pulmonary angiography scan?

• Autor(a) principal: Moreira, Bruno Lima
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Outros Autores: Santana, Pablo Rydz Pinheiro, Zanetti, Gláucia, Marchiori, Edson
• Tipo de documento: preprint
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: SciELO Preprints
• Texto Completo: https://preprints.scielo.org/index.php/scielo/preprint/view/615
• topic: COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019); SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2); Computed tomography angiography

The full spectrum of COVID-19 is still emerging, although several studies have highlighted that patients infected with the novel coronavirus can potentially develop a hypercoagulable state. However, several aspects related to the incidence and pathophysiology of the association between COVID-19 and pulmonary embolism are not well established. Here, we present a case of a patient with COVID-19 who developed acute pulmonary embolism. Clinical and laboratory data and findings of non-enhanced CT indicate possibility of acute pulmonary embolism, and support the decision to proceed with computed tomography pulmonary angiography that can objectively identify filling defects in pulmonary arterial branches.