Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a pandemic that has affected >188 countries, involved >24 million people, and caused >840,000 deaths. COVID-19, in its severe form, presents as acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), shock, and multiorgan failure. Thrombotic microangiopathy of the lungs and kidneys has been observed in these patients. Elevated D-dimer levels have been observed in people with serious COVID-19 illness, and this could be helpful in guiding treatment with anticoagulation in these patients.
Objective: To analyze the role of anticoagulation as a treatment modality for COVID-19.
Methods: We present the unique case of a COVID-19 patient who developed sepsis, ARDS, acute kidney injury, and deep-vein thrombosis (DVT), who was deteriorating clinically. She was treated with anticoagulation.
Results: There was rapid recovery after treatment with systemic anticoagulation.
Conclusions: Systemic anticoagulation could prove to be essential in the treatment of CO-VID-19. Further studies are required to assess its role in improving long-term morbidity and mortality in these patients.
Keywords: AKI; ARDS; Anticoagulation; COVID-19; COVID-19-associated coagulopathy; Cytokine release syndrome; D-dimer; SARS-CoV-2; Thromboembolism; Thrombotic microangiopathy.
© 2020 The Author(s) Published by S. Karger AG, Basel.