New Covid-19 complication: stroke, gangrene, phlebitis
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In addition to attacking the lungs and kidneys, the coronavirus also causes blood clots to form in the body. These would cause serious complications in intensive care patients.
Using 3D modeling, researchers at George Washington University Hospital in the United States have demonstrated the extent of damage to Covid-19 in the lungs. The virus is believed to cause clots to form in the blood vessels, causing serious complications in patients with acute forms.
Coronavirus: ineffective drugs against blood clots
Shari Brosnanan, a specialist resuscitator in the lungs, said this situation was rare, but that "the number of clots going up through the veins more than doubled during the pandemic in critically ill patients."
In the body, blood clots develop as a result of a damaged vessel. These plug a leak and stop the bleeding, but can endanger the organs when they form in the veins. Groups in the lungs can clog arteries and cause pulmonary embolism. These thromboses also cause a stroke and heart attack.
The clots responsible for the inaction of artificial respirators?
To fight clots, blood thinners like heparin are injected into patients. But it doesn't always work. Some patients have even developed internal bleeding after receiving these treatments. According to Dr. Brosnahan, many cases of resuscitation have "micro clots". Compared to large clots in the lungs or brain, the latter do not work. The only possible solution to treat patients is amputation of one or more limbs.
Cecila Mirant-Borde, a resuscitation doctor at New York Veterans Hospital, said she had found large amounts of micro clots in the patients' lungs. This could explain why artificial respirators do not work in many cases in intensive care. Due to blood clots, blood circulates poorly in the lungs and does not oxygenate the body. Therefore, the respirator cannot do anything.
Faced with this new complication, scientists are beginning to speculate. For Behnood Bikdeli, an internal medicine specialist at Columbia University Medical Center, this massive thrombosis formation could be due to the cardiovascular and pulmonary history of the patients. "Any acute illness, by itself, predisposes to the creation of clots."
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