COVID-19, bLOod Coagulation and Thrombosis

Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV2) has been identified as the pathogen responsible for severe acute respiratory syndrome associated with severe inflammatory syndrome and pneumonia (COVID-19). Haemostasis abnormalities have been shown to be associated with a poor prognosis in these patients with this pneumonia. In a Chinese series of 183 patients, the hemostasis balance including thrombin time, fibrinogenemia, fibrin degradation products and antithrombin III were within normal limits. Only the D-Dimer assay was positive in the whole cohort with an average rate of 0.66 µg / mL (normal \<50 µg / mL). These hemostasis parameters were abnormal mainly in patients who died during their management; the levels of D-dimers and fibrin degradation products were significantly higher while the antithrombin III was reduced. The findings on the particular elevation of D-dimers in deceased patients as well as the significant increase in thrombin time were also reported in another series. Higher numbers of pulmonary embolisms have been reported in patients with severe form of SARS-COV2 (data in press). This research is based on the hypothesis that the existence of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) could make it possible to screen patients at risk of pulmonary embolism and to set up a curative anticoagulation. The main objective is to describe the prevalence of deep vein thrombosis in patients hospitalized in intensive care for acute respiratory failure linked to documented SARS-COV2 pneumonia, within 24 hours of their admission.