Vascular Health and Risk Management (Nov 2020)
Case Report on a Patient with Steinert Disease Complicated by COVID-19
Abstract
Roberto Chalela, 1– 4 Oswaldo Caguana, 1, 2 Flavio Zuccarino, 5 Karys Khilzi, 1, 2 Diego A Rodríguez-Chiaradía 1– 4 1Respiratory Medicine Department, Hospital del Mar, Barcelona, Spain; 2Institut Hospital del Mar d’Investigacions Mèdiques (IMIM), Barcelona, Spain; 3Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain; 4Centro de Investigación en Red de Enfermedades Respiratorias(CIBERES), Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII), Madrid, Spain; 5Department of Radiology, Hospital del Mar, Barcelona, SpainCorrespondence: Diego A Rodríguez-ChiaradíaRespiratory Medicine Department, Hospital del Mar, Passeig Maritim, 25, Barcelona, 08003, SpainTel +34 932483548Email [email protected]: SARS-CoV-2 infection is predominantly a respiratory disease with a diverse clinical spectrum. Pulmonary thromboembolic complications during COVID-19 pneumonia may be associated with a high mortality rate and post-mortem findings confirm the presence of platelet-fibrin thrombi in arterial vessels of patients together with lung tissue alterations. We present a patient transferred to the emergency department due to a syncope with no other associated symptoms, who was diagnosed with an acute pulmonary embolism (PE) concomitant with SARS-CoV-2 infection without lung infiltrates. Presenting with a PE as the only manifestation of this infection, reinforces our conception of COVID-19 as a heterogeneous disease of which we still know very little. We believe that while the virus is still circulating in our environment, we need to consider ruling out COVID-19 in all thrombotic events, even if the patients have no other risk factors.Keywords: COVID-19, SARS-CoV-2, pulmonary embolism, syncope, pandemic
