To Anticoagulate or Not: Acute Stroke in a COVID-19 Patient With Gastrointestinal Bleed

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a member of the coronavirus family, which comprises enveloped positive sense ribonucleic acid (RNA) viruses responsible for pandemic outbreaks including Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV), Middle Eastern Respirator...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Curēus (Palo Alto, CA) CA), 2020-09, Vol.12 (9), p.e10554
Main Authors: George, Justin, Kirkland, Zachary, Lattanzio, Natalia, Coleman, Juliette, Stone, David
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Anemia
Anticoagulants
Case reports
Clinical decision making
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Hematology
Hemorrhage
Infectious Disease
Internal Medicine
Medical imaging
Stroke
Thrombosis
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Summary:Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is a member of the coronavirus family, which comprises enveloped positive sense ribonucleic acid (RNA) viruses responsible for pandemic outbreaks including Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (SARS-CoV), Middle Eastern Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus (MERS-CoV), and most recently coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). A 30-year-old previously healthy male diagnosed 11 days earlier with COVID-19 presented with right-sided weakness and dysarthria. The patient was found to have an acute left carotid thrombus with embolic multifocal infarcts throughout the left cerebral hemisphere. He was treated acutely with intravenous heparin however developed gastrointestinal bleeding, prompting discontinuation of anticoagulation. Follow up CT angiography 12 days following his stroke demonstrated complete resolution of the thrombus. Since discharge, the patient has been managed with antiplatelet therapy alone with complete neurologic recovery. Large vessel strokes amongst young patients have been a growing concern during the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak. The use of acute therapeutic and prophylactic anticoagulation is based on risk assessment. Albeit, the utility of anticoagulation in COVID-19 patients remains undetermined.  Prevention of stroke recurrence is a clinical priority for providers treating large vessel stroke patients. More research is required to establish the effectiveness of anticoagulation and antiplatelet therapy for stroke prevention in patients diagnosed with COVID-19.
ISSN:2168-8184
2168-8184
DOI:10.7759/cureus.10554