Lupus Anticoagulant and Abnormal Coagulation Tests in Patients with Covid-19

Researchers in the U.K. report that among some 200 patients with severe COVID-19, 20% had a prolonged activated partial-thromboplastin time (aPTT). Of those with prolonged aPTT who had lupus anticoagulant assays, 91% of the assays were positive; none of these patients had clinically significant bleeding. The researchers conclude in the New England Journal of Medicine: “Clinicians should not withhold use of anticoagulants for thrombosis while awaiting further investigation of a prolonged aPTT, nor should they withhold thrombolytic therapy in the face of a high-risk pulmonary embolism on the basis of a prolonged aPTT alone.”

https://www.nejm.org/doi/full/10.1056/NEJMc2013656?query=pfw&jwd=000000762462&jspc=CD