Acute Lower Limb Ischemia in Patients Infected with COVID-19

BACKGROUND: The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of acute lower limb ischemia (ALLI) among patients infected with COVID-19 and to review their characteristics and outcomes. METHODS: This study was performed at King Abdullah University Hospital (KAUH) in the north of Jordan. All patients with ALLI and COVID-19 infection, between November 1, 2020 and December 31, 2020, were retrospectively identified and reviewed. RESULTS: A total number of 1300 COVID-19 patients were admitted to KAUH during the period of the study. Seven patients (0.54%) had ALLI. Of them, 5 were males (71.4%) with a mean age of 68 ± 3 years and 2 were females (28.6%) with a mean age of 58 ± 7 years. Five patients (71.4%) were admitted as COVID-19 infection and developed ALLI during hospitalization, all of them were males, had COVID-19 related pneumonia, and died within 24 hours of ALLI diagnosis. While 2 patients were presented with ALLI and found to have positive COVID-19, all of them were females, underwent successful thrombo-embolectomy, and had no deaths, however, one of them had recurrent ALLI which resulted in below knee amputation. CONCLUSION: The prevalence of ALLI in patients infected with COVID-19 was 0.54%. We observed that patients with COVID-19 related pneumonia who develop ALLI during hospitalization had a high mortality.