COVID-19 shed light on Virchow's law of thrombosis

Hubert Daisley1,2, Oneka Acco3, Martina Daisley4

  • 1General Hospital, Department of Pathology, San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago.

Autopsy & Case Reports
|October 7, 2024
PubMed

Insights

COVID-19

Area of Science:

  • Pulmonary vascular disease
  • Thrombosis
  • Viral pathogenesis

Background:

  • Virchow's law describes thrombosis triggers: vessel wall injury, blood flow stasis, and hypercoagulability.
  • COVID-19 is associated with increased thrombotic events.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the mechanism of pulmonary thrombosis in COVID-19.
  • To determine if SARS-CoV-2 infection causes thrombosis within pulmonary vessel walls.

Main Methods:

  • Postulated SARS-CoV-2 infection of alveolar type II cells or pericytes.
  • Examined the cascade of inflammation and endothelial cell interaction.
  • Observed thrombosis location in pulmonary vasculature.

Main Results:

  • SARS-CoV-2 infection/injury promotes inflammation and endothelial cell interaction.
  • Thrombosis was observed within the walls of pulmonary vessels.
  • Thrombosis did not occur in the lumen of the vascular circulation.

Conclusions:

  • COVID-19-induced pulmonary thrombosis originates within the vessel wall.
  • SARS-CoV-2 infection initiates a cascade leading to intramural vascular thrombosis.

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