Alarmed as COVID patients' blood thickened, New York doctors try new treatments

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As the novel coronavirus spread through New York City in late March, Dr. J Mocco, a Mount Sinai neurosurgeon took note of an alarming symptom in many of his patients.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) MOUNT SINAI HEALTH SYSTEM, SYSTEM VICE-CHAIR, PROFESSOR OF NEUROSURGERY, DOCTOR J MOCCO, SAYING:

"We began to notice, as the curve and peak started to really take off in New York City, that across all of New York City we were seeing large number of strokes, and that these strokes were extremely concerning.

In the three weeks beginning mid-March, Mocco saw 32 stroke patients with large blood blockages in the brain. That was twice the number he usually saw in the same period, and at least half of those 32 stroke patients would test positive for COVID-19.

Mocco connected with another doctor who was seeing the same phenomenon, patients showing signs of blood thickening and clotting, but in the lungs.

And doctors at Mount Sinai believe it’s yet another way the novel coronavirus can ravage a human body.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) MOUNT SINAI HEALTH SYSTEM, SYSTEM VICE-CHAIR, PROFESSOR OF NEUROSURGERY, DOCTOR J MOCCO, SAYING:"We're seeing clots everywhere, high rates of clots in the veins in the legs. So, across the board, for sure, we all believe, and there's objective evidence, that this disease increases clot formation compared to a general ICU course substantially."

What also concerned Mocco is the age of the patients. Of the 32 stroke patients he's seen since the virus started to take its toll - five were under 49 and the youngest only 31.

He says that in some cases, a stroke was a young patient’s first symptom of COVID-19.

(SOUNDBITE) (English) MOUNT SINAI HEALTH SYSTEM, SYSTEM VICE-CHAIR, PROFESSOR OF NEUROSURGERY, DOCTOR J MOCCO, SAYING:

"We don't absolutely understand everything by far. Whether or not the clotting is a symptom of something fundamentally going wrong with the lining of the blood vessel, or whether the clotting is the primary thing, it's without doubt causing a lot of the problems we're seeing."

The discovery has led to a new treatment protocol.

Now, many patients receive high doses of a blood-thinning drug even before any evidence of clotting appears.