Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Case Reports
. 2021 Oct 7;13(10):e18574.
doi: 10.7759/cureus.18574. eCollection 2021 Oct.

Acute Limb Ischemia in a Patient With COVID-19 Pneumonia

Shahbaz Ali Nasir  1 , Anum Arif  2 , Mubasshar Shahid  3 , Yashfeen Ahmed  1 , Bismah Riaz  4 , Nawabzada Zeerak Farhat Sherwani  4
Affiliations
Case Reports

Acute Limb Ischemia in a Patient With COVID-19 Pneumonia

Shahbaz Ali Nasir et al. Cureus. .

Abstract

COVID-19, which is caused by the novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2), is known to cause a myriad of complications along with the typical lower respiratory tract involvement. One of the emerging complications is a hypercoagulable state leading to venous or arterial thromboembolism. These complications are more common in those presenting with a severe disease with significantly elevated inflammatory markers. Although co-morbid illnesses play a role in worsening such complications, yet they are not the main determinants as these complications also occur in those without any co-morbid illness. Here, we report a case of a 64-year-old male with severe COVID-19 pneumonia presenting with acute limb ischemia with a non-salvageable limb who required subsequent amputation of the affected limb.

Keywords: comorbidities; coronavirus; limb ischemia; pneumonia; thromboembolism.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have declared that no competing interests exist.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1. Blackish discoloration of his right leg with a line of demarcation just below the knee joint
Figure 2
Figure 2. Computerized tomography angiography (CTA) (coronal view): The blue arrow indicates sudden abruption of contrast from right common femoral artery (CFA) and no contrast opacification in the popliteal artery (PA), anterior tibial artery (ATA), posterior tibial artery (PTA), and dorsalis pedis artery (DPA)
Figure 3
Figure 3. High-resolution CT (HRCT) scan of the chest with a coronal view of the patient with ground glass opacities bilaterally as shown by arrows with a CT severity score of 31/40
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Outbreak of pneumonia of unknown etiology in Wuhan, China: the mystery and the miracle. Lu H, Stratton CW, Tang YW. J Med Virol. 2020;92:401–402. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Epidemiological and clinical characteristics of 99 cases of 2019 novel coronavirus pneumonia in Wuhan, China: a descriptive study. Chen N, Zhou M, Dong X, et al. Lancet. 2020;15:507–513. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Covid-19 in critically ill patients in the Seattle region - case series. Bhatraju PK, Ghassemieh BJ, Nichols M, et al. N Engl J Med. 2020;382:2012–2022. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Endothelial dysfunction contributes to COVID-19-associated vascular inflammation and coagulopathy. Zhang J, Tecson KM, McCullough PA. Rev Cardiovasc Med. 2020;21:315–319. - PubMed
    1. COVID-19 convalescent plasma: now is the time for better science. Dzik S. Transfus Med Rev. 2020;34:141–144. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types

LinkOut - more resources