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Updated: Dec 9, 2025

A Porcine Model of Acute Autologous Pulmonary Embolism
Published on: September 6, 2024
COVID-19 and Pulmonary Emboli: A Case Series and Literature Review
James Greenan-Barrett1, Adrian Perera1
1Royal Free Hospital, Department of Emergency Medicine, Hampstead, London, United Kingdom.
Introduction:
There is recent evidence that coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) infection results in a prothrombotic state that may increase the risk of venous thromboembolism. Both COVID-19 infection and pulmonary emboli can present with dyspnoea, tachypnoea, hypoxaemia and an elevated D-dimer. Identifying a pulmonary embolus in a patient with COVID-19 and differentiating it from the typical clinical and biochemical features of COVID-19 is challenging.
Case Reports:
We report four cases, and reviewed two further cases in the literature, of a pulmonary embolus in patients who presented to the emergency department with COVID-19 and no other risk factor for a pulmonary embolus.
Conclusion:
We identified a series of atypical features that should raise suspicion for a pulmonary embolus: pleuritic chest pain; haemoptysis; atrial fibrillation; tachycardia; hypotension; late onset deterioration; evidence of right heart strain; or a disproportionally elevated D-dimer in comparison to ferritin.
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