Some young and middle-aged coronavirus patients are dying of strokes
Doctors have reported that COVID-19 appears to be causing sudden strokes among people in their 30s and 40s who are not otherwise seriously ill. Some young and middle-aged Americans have experienced strokes after testing positive for the novel coronavirus. There is growing evidence that COVID-19 infection can lead the blood to clot unnaturally, and an expected consequence of that would be a stroke.
Once believed to be a pathogen primarily attacking the lungs, now it has turned out to be a formidable foe that impacts nearly every major organ system in the body. Patients are unwilling to call 911 because, they have heard that hospitals are filled with coronavirus cases.
Researchers suspect strokes in COVID-19 patients may be a direct result of blood problems producing clots all over some patients’ bodies. Clots that form on vessel walls move upward. Starting in the calves, it might migrate to the lungs leading to a blockage called a pulmonary embolism that arrests breathing. This is a known cause of death among coronavirus patients.
Clots in or near the heart might cause a heart attack, which is another cause of death. Anything above that travels to the brain leading to a stroke.
At the largest system in New York City, Mount Sinai, physician and researcher J Mocco said that number of patients coming with large blood blockages in their brains have doubled in three weeks of the COVID-19 surge, even though the emergency cases fell. More of these were COVID-19 positive.
Dr. Thomas Oxley, a neurosurgeon at Mount Sinai Health System in New York, and colleagues have shared details of five people they treated. All were under the age of 50, and each one had mild symptoms of COVID-19 or no symptoms.
The virus seemed to cause increased clotting in the large arteries that led to severe stroke. Their reports revealed there was a seven-fold increase in incidence of sudden stroke among younger patients in the last two weeks. Most of them had no past medical history. Infact they were at home with mild symptoms of COVID-19.
The link between COVID-19 and strokes is under study by researchers at Philadelphia's Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals, New York City's NYU Langone Health and the Mount Sinai Beth Israel Hospital in Manhattan.
There are only a few dozen cases reported per hospital location, the ages of coronavirus patients facing severe strokes from 33 to 49, are an anomaly to neurologists.
Generally, the median age for experiencing severe strokes, with large blockages in the brain is 74. Though according to CDC strokes can occur at any age, the risk increases with age.
Clinicians are finding evidence that coronavirus affects more than the lungs. It can cause acute kidney disease, blood clots, neurological malfunction, liver problems, heart inflammation and intestinal damage.
CDC warns that older people with medical conditions like heart or lung disease and diabetes seem to be at higher risk for developing more serious complications from COVID-19.
If not removed right away, a stroke in a large blood vessel can lead to severe damage. At least one patient has died and others are in intensive care, rehabilitation facilities or in the stroke unit. Only one patient went home but will need intense care according to Oxley.
Oxley believes that the most vital thing for people to know is that large strokes are treatable. Doctors are often able to reopen blocked blood vessels with techniques like pulling out clots or inserting stents.
But this has to be done quickly, ideally within the time period of six hours, but no longer than 24 hours. The message with which they are trying to reach people is if they have symptoms of stroke, they have to call the ambulance urgently.
Oxley said his team wishes to tell people to watch for symptoms of coronavirus infection and to call 911 if they have evidence of stroke. Till now people were advised to only call for an ambulance with shortness of breath or high fever.
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