Acute pulmonary embolism in hospitalized patients with SARS-CoV-2-related pneumonia: multicentric experience from Italian endemic area.

Abstract

PurposeTo analyze pulmonary embolism (PE) on chest computed tomography pulmonary angiography (CTPA) in hospitalized patients affected by SARS-CoV-2, according to the severity of lung disease based both on temporal CT features changes and on CT-severity lung involvement (CT-severity score), along with the support of clinical and laboratory findings.MethodsWe retrospectively enrolled a total of 170 patients with confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection who underwent CTPA examination for PE suspicion. Pulmonary arteries diameters, right ventricle/left ventricle (RV/LV) ratio, presence, absence, and distribution of PE, pulmonary artery obstructive index (PAO index), and lobe involvement were recorded. All CT scans were reviewed to assess temporal CT changes and the COVID CT-severity score.ResultsA total of 76 out of 170 patients (44.7%) developed PE without having any major risk factors for venous thromboembolism. The most severe pulmonary arteries involvement, expressed in terms of PAO Index, occurred in those patients with markedly elevated D-dimer and C-reactive protein (CRP) values and those patients with an advanced temporal stage of lung disease. The majority PE-positive patients were hospitalized in non-intensive wards. PE-positive patients showed a slightly higher hospitalization time in comparison with PE-negative ones. In the three months of study, overall 85.9% of patients were discharged while 14.1% died, of whom 13 PE-positive (54.2%).ConclusionsPatients hospitalized for SARS-CoV-2 infection present a higher cumulative incidence of PE compared to the general population of hospitalized patients, regardless of the severity of lung inflammation or the temporal stage of the disease.Supplementary InformationThe online version contains supplementary material available at (10.1007/s11547-020-01328-2).