Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Infection Associated With Antiphospholipid Antibodies and Four-Extremity Deep Vein thrombosis in a Previously Healthy Female

Joowhan Sung; Seher Anjum

doi:10.7759/cureus.8408

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Infection Associated With Antiphospholipid Antibodies and Four-Extremity Deep Vein thrombosis in a Previously Healthy Female

Cureus. 2020 Jun 2;12(6):e8408. doi: 10.7759/cureus.8408.

Authors

Joowhan Sung¹, Seher Anjum²

Affiliations

¹ Internal Medicine, MedStar Southern Maryland Hospital, Clinton, USA.
² Translational Mycology, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, Bethesda, USA.

Abstract

Infection caused by novel coronavirus (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2) has been associated with coagulopathy. We present a case of a previously healthy 49-year-old female who was admitted to the hospital for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pneumonia and later found to have extensive deep vein thrombosis (DVT) in all four extremities. This was accompanied by a steep rise in D-dimer levels and positive antiphospholipid antibodies (APLA) on further testing. She clinically improved on hydroxychloroquine and therapeutic anticoagulation. This is one of the first case reports describing APLA-associated DVT in a patient with COVID-19 pneumonia. Transient elevation of APLA from the viral illness may play a role in thrombosis associated with COVID-19.

Keywords: antiphospholipid antibody; covid-19; deep vein thrombosis; sars-cov-2; thromboembolism.

Publication types

Case Reports

Grants and funding

This research was supported in part by the Intramural Research Program of the NIH AI001124.