Abstract
Objectives: To study pulmonary embolism during COVID-19 pneumonia.
Patients and Methods: This was a one-year retrospective and descriptive study of all patients from three imaging sites with SARS-CoV2 infection.
Results: Two hundred and thirty-nine patients were included. The prevalence of pulmonary embolism was 18.4%. The average age was 55 years old. The sex ratio was 1.65. Dyspnea (58.6%), cough (56.1%), and chest pain (40.2%) were the most common reasons for consultation. In 151 patients (63.2%), chest computed tomography (CT) angiography was performed without checking level of D-dimer. The level of D-dimers was elevated in 47.8%. Grade 5 of CO-RADS accounted for 62.3%. In 70.5% of cases, the pulmonary embolism was bilateral with subsegmental involvement in 47.7%.
Condensation in ‘ground glass’ with ‘crazy paving’ were the predominant typical parenchymal lesions with a frequency of 93.7% and 59.4%. In univariate analysis, D-dimers were significantly associated with the occurrence of pulmonary embolism (p < 0.001). Male sex was associated with a non-significantly higher Risk of having a pulmonary embolism (1.18 95% CI: 0.61–2.31, p = 0.622). The critical level increased the risk of pulmonary embolism in a non-significant way. Only the high level of D-dimers was and this, in a significant way.
Conclusion: Pulmonary embolism was increased in the context of SARS-CoV2. The chest CT-angiography associated with the dosage of D-dimers constitutes a good diagnostic arsenal.
Publisher’s Note: A correction article relating to this paper has been published and can be found at https://jbsr.be/articles/10.5334/jbsr.3202.