Abstract

Background: SARS COVID 19 (SARS-CoV-2) is well known to cause severe respiratory distress. It has been recently discovered to be associated with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS) and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC).

Case Report: A previously healthy 53 year old male patient presented to the emergency department (ER) with fever, generalised body aches and epigastric abdominal pain. The patient arrived independently the emergency department. He was not complaining of any headache or respiratory distress. His vitals showed tachycardia, hypotension and hypoxia on room air. Routine blood tests showed acute kidney injury, thrombocytopenia and coagulopathy (elevated prothrombin time ratio and INR) and elevated D-dimers. The patient was fast tracked for ICU admission despite him being vitally stable. He tested positive for COVID-19 infection and was diagnosed to have developed disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC). The patient deteriorated quickly with seizures and passed away ten hours post arrival to the hospital.

Conclusion: SARS COVID-19 virus can present with atypical symptoms like fever, body aches and seizures, without any significant respiratory symptoms or any severe pulmonary changes on CT scans. COVID-19 infection can also result in severe DIC. High index of suspicion and immediate COVID-19 testing should be used in any patient presenting with fever, body aches or any atypical symptoms. Intensive treatment of the COVID-19 infection and the underlying DIC are crucial in trying to reduce mortality.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC); Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome (ARDS); Multiple Organ Dysfunction Syndrome (MODS); Coagulopathy

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Citation

Citation: Omar S Mansour. “Could a Cascade of Overwhelming Disseminated Intravascular Coagulation (DIC) be the Primary Pathology in Life Threatening COVID-19 Infections?”. Acta Scientific Gastrointestinal Disorders 3.6 (2020): 06-11.

Copyright

Copyright: © 2020 Omar S Mansour. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.