Researchers from Nanyang Technological University of Singapore found that patients with COVID-19 may still have an increased risk of thrombosis after recovery due to the persistent over-immune response, which is more likely to cause heart disease, stroke or organ failure symptoms, according to Singapore’s reported on April 14.
The researchers tested 30 COVID-19 survivors, 24 healthy people and 20 patients with diabetes or hypertension who had not been diagnosed with COVID-19. They found that the blood vessels of COVID-19 survivors had higher damage and excreted endothelial cells twice as many as those with non-COVID-19.
This shows that even if the virus in patients with COVID-19 has been eliminated, the body still produces a large number of cytokine that can start the immune response, and there are abnormally large numbers of immune T cells in the blood. “This may lead to damage and inflammation of blood vessels and loopholes in the blood vessel barrier. At this point, the body produces the triggering factor of the thrombus, which, if the thrombus is serious, will have devastating effects on the patient, such as a heart attack and stroke.”
Researchers say it is not clear why the immune response of patients is still hyperactive after recovery.
In January this year, the World Health Organization revised its clinical management guidelines to recommend that patients with COVID-19 hospitalized use low-dose anti-coagulation drugs for thrombosis.
