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- Published on: 1 May 2020
- Published on: 1 May 2020Corona viruses and Stroke
Dear Editor,
The editorial by Manji et al.1 on the neurology of the COVID-19 pandemic cites Mao et al2.’s report describing 5 ischemic strokes in 214 COVID-19 patients. Helms et al3,. and Zhang et al4. have also since reported ischemic stroke in patients with severe SARS-CoV-2 infection, with the latter linking stroke to antiphospholipid antibodies4. In addition, Oxley et al. describe large-vessel stroke in 5 young patients5. In this context, I would like to highlight our 2003 study of ischemic stroke in severe SARS-CoV-1 infection, the corona virus responsible for Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS)6. Five out of a total of 206 SARS patients in the country developed large artery ischemic stroke7, four of whom were critically ill. They were not significantly older (56±13 years) than other critically-ill SARS patients (50±16 years, Anova p=0.45). Besides episodes of hypotension, we suspected thromboembolism as a possible mechanism of stroke. Four of the eight SARS patients, who had autopsy examination, revealed evidence of pulmonary thromboemboli8. One was a 39-year-old man, with no stroke risk factors, who died two weeks after contracting SARS; his autopsy revealed unilateral occipital lobe infarction, sterile vegetations on multiple valves, deep venous thrombosis and pulmonary embolism. This prompted the subsequent use of low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) in critically-ill patients, at doses to achieve anti-Xa levels of 0.5-1.0IU/ml. Nevertheless, one-thir...
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None declared.