Open AccessD-dimer and C-reactive Protein Blood Levels Over Time Used to Predict Pulmonary Embolism in Two COVID-19 Patients
Author(s) -
Yael Becher,
Leonid Goldman,
Nadav Yehoshua Schacham,
Irina Gringauz,
Dan Justo
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
european journal of case reports in internal medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.125
H-Index - 1
ISSN - 2284-2594
DOI - 10.12890/2020_001725
Subject(s) - medicine , pulmonary embolism , covid-19 , d dimer , cardiology , c reactive protein , intensive care medicine , virology , disease , inflammation , outbreak , infectious disease (medical specialty)
The diagnosis of pulmonary embolism is challenging in symptomatic COVID-19 patients since shortness of breath, chest pain, tachycardia, tachypnoea, fever, oxygen desaturation and high D-dimer blood levels might be features of both diseases. We present two COVID-19 patients in whom pulmonary embolism was suspected (and diagnosed) due to a discrepancy between an increase in D-dimer blood levels and a decrease in C-reactive protein blood levels over time. We believe that an opposite change in the blood levels of both biomarkers over time may be used as a novel method to predict pulmonary embolism in COVID-19 patients.