Thrombotic Microangiopathy in Patients Recovering from COVID-19

Abstract

INTRODUCTION During the pandemic caused by the SARSCoV-2 virus, some patients who develop severe forms of COVID-19 present thrombotic microangiopathy in the course of the disease’s clinical progression. METHODS Data came from direct patient observation and clinical records. We performed a kidney biopsy and used optical microscopy and immunofluorescence techniques. RESULTS We present the case of a 78-year-old male patient, mestizo, overweight with a history of high blood pressure, ischemic cardiopathy and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease who was first admitted to the hospital due to respiratory symptoms and diarrhea related to COVID-19, from which he recovered. He was subsequently readmitted with symptoms of acute renal dysfunction accompanied by mild anemia and thrombocytopenia; at the same time, he resulted negative for COVID-19 via a real-time polymerase chain reaction test. A kidney biopsy revealed thrombi in glomerular capillaries, acute tubular necrosis, thickening of extraglomerular blood vessel walls, and C3 deposits in the glomerular tufts. CONCLUSIONS We describe a case of thrombotic microangiopathy with kidney biopsy in a patient recovering from COVID-19. Acute renal dysfunction is a form of thrombotic microangiopathy that has been observed in patients recovering from COVID-19.