Does coronavirus cause blood clots? A dangerous new complication arises

Doctors are wrestling with a dangerous new complication in some coronavirus patients with severe infections — blood clots, ABC News reports.

“You just watch it clot right in front of you,” said Dr. Kathryn Hibbert, director of the medical intensive care unit at Massachusetts General Hospital, CNN reported.

Broadway star Nick Cordero, 41, lost his right leg as a result of blood clots as he fights the COVID-19 virus, The Washington Post reported. Doctors were forced to amputate after blood thinners failed to resolve the problem.

Other patients have experienced embolisms, heart attacks and other problems caused by blood clots, while doctors are still working out how to treat the complication, Business Insider reported.

“We’re driving blindly based on what we call very weak but very compelling data,” said Dr. Alex Spyropoulos, a blood clot expert at Northwell Health in New York, according to the publication.

More than 2.5 million cases of the COVID-19 virus have been confirmed worldwide with more than 178,000 deaths as of April 22, according to Johns Hopkins University. The United States has more than 826,000 confirmed cases with more than 45,000 deaths.

The World Health Organization has declared coronavirus a global pandemic. In the United States, President Donald Trump has declared a national emergency.

Scientists are discovering the virus, which typically starts in the lungs, can lead to complications ranging from kidney failure to seizures to heart attacks.

Coronavirus can attack “almost anything in the body,” including the heart, kidneys and brain, with “devastating consequences,” says Dr. Harlan Krumholz, a Yale University cardiologist, Science reports.

“Its ferocity is breathtaking and humbling,” Krumholz said, according to the publication.

In patients with severe cases, elevated blood clotting has emerged as another complication, CNN reported. While blood clots are always a risk for bedridden patients, doctors report an unusual jump in cases involving coronavirus patients.

“The number of clotting problems I’m seeing in the ICU, all related to COVID-19, is unprecedented,” said Dr. Jeffrey Laurence, a hematologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York City, according to the network. He called the problem “widespread.”

Studies in New York City and the Netherlands also have revealed high rates of blood clotting among some coronavirus patients, CNN reported. But doctors are still trying to figure out why.

“This virus is affecting the lungs, but it appears to be causing inflammation of the whole body,” said Dr. Viren Kaul, a pulmonary critical care specialist at Crouse Health, ABC News reported.

Similar blood-clotting problems appeared in patients with SARS, also caused by a coronavirus, and swine flu during previous outbreaks, Business Insider reported.

Blood clots are a serious risk since they can break free and cause strokes, heart attacks, kidney problems, lung problems and other potentially deadly injuries, according to the publication.

Cordero, a Tony Award-nominee for his roles in such Broadway productions as “Rock of Ages,” is on a ventilator at a Los Angeles hospital with coronavirus, The Washington Post reports.

On April 18, doctors amputated his right leg because of blood-clotting problems, according to the publication. His wife, Amanda Kloots, posted to Instagram a day later that Cordero survived the surgery and appeared to be doing better.

This story was originally published April 22, 2020 at 7:55 AM with the headline "Does coronavirus cause blood clots? A dangerous new complication arises."