A 22-year-old COVID-19 positive male with no prior medical history presented to the emergency department with pulmonary infarction

• Main Authors: Islam Younes, Ramez Alyacoub, Onyeka Nwachukwu, Anuraag Sah, Remolina Carlos
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2021-07-01
• Series: Journal of Community Hospital Internal Medicine Perspectives
• Subjects: pulmonary infarction; covid-19; hypercoagulability
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/20009666.2021.1922132

Rapidly growing evidence has now shown a high incidence of venous thrombosis in patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome secondary to novel coronavirus 2, a disease now named COVID-19. Accumulating case reports and series have also shown a higher prevalence of arterial thrombosis in these patients as well. Although the pathophysiology remains unknown but likely multifactorial – including endotheliitis from direct viral damage and an underlying hyper-inflammatory state, arterial and venous thrombosis occurrence does not appear to be linked with underlying classic risk factors for venous thromboembolism and may present in healthy patients without significant comorbidities. We present a case of a 22-year-old healthy patient with COVID-19 who developed a pulmonary embolism with a pulmonary infarction, a complication that results from arterial and venous thrombosis of the pulmonary vascular supply resulting in tissue necrosis.