Large Vessel Occlusion Secondary to COVID-19 Hypercoagulability in a Young Patient: A Case Report and Literature Review

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) initially most appreciated for its pulmonary symptoms, is now increasingly recognized for causing multi-organ disease and stroke in the setting of a hypercoagulable state. We report a case of 33-year-old African American woman with COVID-19 who developed acute malignant middle cerebral artery infarction due to thromboembolic occlusion of the left terminal internal carotid artery and middle cerebral artery stem. Mechanical thrombectomy was challenging and ultimately unsuccessful resulting in limited reperfusion of <67% of the affected vascular territory, and thrombectomized clot was over 50 mm in length, at least three times the average clot length. The final stroke size was estimated at 224 cubic centimeters. On admission her D-dimer level was 94,589 ng/mL (normal 0–500 ng/ml). Throughout the hospitalization D-dimer decreased but never reached normal values while fibrinogen trended upward. Hypercoagulability panel was remarkable for mildly elevated anticardiolipin IgM of 16.3 MPL/mL (normal: 0–11.0 MPL/mL). With respect to remaining stroke workup, there was no evidence of clinically significant stenosis or dissection in the proximal internal carotid artery or significant cardioembolic source including cardiomyopathy, atrial fibrillation, cardiac thrombus, cardiac tumor, valvular abnormality, aortic arch atheroma, or patent foramen ovale. She developed malignant cytotoxic cerebral edema and succumbed to complications. This case underscores the importance of recognizing hypercoagulability as a cause of severe stroke and poor outcome in young patients with COVID-19 and highlights the need for further studies to define correlation between markers of coagulopathy in patients with COVID-19 infection and outcome post stroke.