Venous thromboembolism and antithrombotic therapy in COVID-19

A distinctive feature of critically ill COVID-19 patients is higher susceptibility to venous thromboembolism (VTE) often presenting as isolated pulmonary embolism that may lead to sudden death. VTE episodes have been observed to occur despite standard prophylactic anticoagulation. It is therefore of crucial importance to choose the appropriate drug dose for therapeutic and prophylactic antithrombotic therapy in patients with COVCID-19. The drugs of choice here are low molecular weight heparins (LMWHs). Several randomized clinical trials have compared the efficacy of prophylactic, intermediate and therapeutic dose LMWH in VTE prophylaxis in various clinical settings. The paper presents the most recent International Society on Thrombosis and Hemostasis expert recommendations for anticoagulant prophylaxis in COVID-19. The recommendations were based on the outcome of recent clinical trials