Portal vein thrombosis associated with COVID-19: points to consider

Abstract

The rapid global spread, as well as the mortality and morbidity associated with COVID-19, has raised increasing concern around the globe. Studies have reported that patients infected with the novel coronavirus are prone to coagulopathy. However, information on portal vein thrombosis in patients with COVID-19 is scarce. In this case report, we depict the abdominal computed tomography (CT) findings of a 26-year-old male patient with COVID-19 who developed severe abdominal pain during hospitalization and was later diagnosed with portal vein thrombosis. We also demonstrate the chest CT scan of the same patient, which revealed bilateral pleural effusion, a less common imaging finding, and multifocal patchy consolidations. This paper emphasizes that physicians, particularly radiologists, should be aware of thromboembolic events when examining any suspected patient during the current outbreak.

Trombosis portal aguda en colecistitis incipiente. ¿Una consecuencia de la infección por COVID-19?

“…These thrombotic phenomena have been described mainly at pulmonary level, where thromboembolism has been evidenced in up to 67% of patients with COVID-19 infection. However, there are many articles based on imaging tests and autopsies in patients who died from COVID-19, which show thrombotic involvement at many other levels of the organism such as brain, heart, bowel, kidney, and even liver, as in our case [14][15][16][17][18] . When PVT occurs acutely, the predominant symptoms are abdominal pain, fever, and in laboratory tests, we can find leukocytosis, elevated acute phase reactants, liver enzymes, and bilirubin.…”

Acute splanchnic vein thrombosis in patients with COVID-19: A systematic review

“…Overall, 641 articles were screened, 21 of which were selected according to the above mentioned criteria 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 , 23 , 24 , 25 , 26 , 27 . The included articles were all case reports (except for one case series [10] ), and contained description of 21 cases.…”

Portal Vein Thrombosis—a Rare Complication of SARS-CoV-2 Infection

“…There are few case reports on acute portal vein thrombosis in COVID-19 patient [ 9 – 11 ]. Jafari et al reported the abdominal CT findings of a 26-year-old male patient with COVID-19 who had severe abdominal pain during hospitalization and was later diagnosed with portal vein thrombosis [ 12 ]. Borazjani et al also reported a 23-year-old asthmatic male with coronavirus pneumonia who developed acute generalized abdominal pain.…”