Pulmonary Thromboembolism on CT Pulmonary Angiography of Covid-19 Patients and Its Correlation to CT Severity Score, D-dimer, and Ferritin Levels: A Prospective and Retrospective Study

Abstract

Background: PTE risk has been linked to SARS-CoV-2. The purpose of this study was to identify the clinical manifestation and contributing causes of death in COVID-19-infected hospitalized patients.

Method: The prospective and retrospective data included patients who tested positive for RT-PCR irrespective of age and gender. Sample size is 291. Statistical Significance is done using Parametric tests such as t-test categorical variables tested by chi-square test.

Results: A total of 291 subjects were involved in this study. Of the total population, 76.3% of the participants had positive COVID-19 status, while 23.7% of the participants were post-COVID-19. 24.1% of the participants had very mild CT-SS, 0.3% had mild CT-SS, and 26.5% had moderate CT-SS: Moderate. Only 0.3% of the participants had severe CT-SS, while 48.8% had very severe CT-SS. patients having very mild disease have less clinical suspicion of having PTE. PTE among patients was positively associated with higher D-dimer levels (4048.75 ± 2946.93 ng/mL to 1875.25 ± 2135.72 ng/ml, respectively). Patients who tested positive for PTE had higher ferritin levels than those without PTE (487.79 ± 690.42 ng/ml to 409.50 ± 409.09 ng/ml, respectively).

Conclusion: Higher the severity(inflammation) higher the risk of formation of thrombus. Patients with higher CT severity score and D-dimer levels and with clinical suspicion of PTE should undergo CTPA. If patient cannot undergo CTPA when there is a suspicion of PTE in severe and very severe covid disease it is safe to start therapeutic thromboprophylaxis