Blood Coagulation: A Potentially Lethal Manifestation in COVID-19 Patients

Abstract

Blood clotting is a well-known phenomenon which is intended to provide protection in case of any external cellular/ tissue injury. However, this phenomenon in COVID-19 patients is leading to unusual thrombotic presentations. Since the emergence of novel coronavirus, World has come across various benign as well as lethal manifestations in COVID-19 patients and one such life-threatening manifestation which needs rigorous attention is the genesis of strange blood clots that can travel and get logged into several parts of the COVID-19 patients leading to various clinical presentations. COVID-19 infection is caused due to interaction of spike glycoproteins of coronavirus  with ACE 2 receptors on the host  cell surface. This interaction in the arteries, veins or capillaries could lead to injury in the vascular  wall of blood vessels that can directly/Indirectly lead to coagulation and clotting cascades activation and subsequent formation of internal blood clots. However, it is undesirable to have the presence of these clots as they could lead to certain fatal complications that need emergency medical intervention or else, they may lead to the death of a patient. Due to the severity of this manifestation, early detection of these blood clots in covid-19 patients become very important intervention which could be done by observing certain specific signs and symptoms and/or with the help of various laboratory biomarkers like D-dimer, platelet count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), ferritin, fibrinogen, etc. Once the early diagnosis is made, the patient can be treated appropriately with the help of anticoagulant therapy, which includes use of oral and parenteral anticoagulant drugs. This way the complications of blood coagulation like thrombo-embolism, could be prevented.