Non-invasive assessment of skin microcirculation in patients with COVID-19: three clinical cases

Abstract

Currently, there is enough data to suggest a significant role of microcirculation abnormalities in the pathophysiology of COVID-19. However, no clinical studies on noninvasive assessment of blood microcirculation in patients with the new coronavirus infection have been performed. We measured skin microcirculation by laser Doppler flowmetry in the thermal and inspiratory gasp tests in 3 patients with various courses of COVID-19. A decrease in the skin microcirculation reactivity was found in a patient with a more severe course of coronavirus infection. We believe that assessment of skin microcirculation could become a promising tool for the development of new diagnostic approaches and in future of new treatments for patients with coronavirus infection, as well as for identification of patient categories with a high risk of its severe course. Further studies are required to evaluate the clinical applicability of laser Doppler flowmetry for assessment of skin microcirculation in patients with COVID-19.

Keywords

• coronavirus infections
• covid-19
• microcirculation
• skin
• laser doppler flowmetry