SARS-CoV-2 and venous thromboembolic disease. Not everything is new

Abstract

SARS-CoV-2, responsible for the pandemic; has shown a high thrombogenic potential, but; despite being a newly emerging virus, it shows a close relationship with previously described pathophysiological mechanisms. Venous thromboembolic disease is the most frequent complication and it is directly proportional to the increase in mortality in these patients. In SARS-CoV-2 context, heparins have shown superiority over other drugs for their anti-inflammatory effect but there is not an established consensus about their dosage in different stages of the disease; moreover, at hospital discharge, the most suitable drug choice and pharmacological prophylaxis duration is controversial. After an exhaustive review and based in both, current COVID-19 era literature and the past years related scientific information, we propose sepsis-induced coagulopathy (SIC) score and D-dimer quantification as objective parameters; in addition, we suggest the use of previously validated scores to assess venous thromboembolic risk, bleeding and diagnostic suspicion of deep vein thrombosis and pulmonary embolism; these could help to reduce subjective bias and try to clear uncertainties about this topic.