Acute Arterial Occlusions in COVID-19 Times: A Comparison Study Among Patients with Acute Limb Ischemia With or Without COVID-19 Infection

BACKGROUND: To determine the impact of coronavirus (COVID-19) infection in patients with acute limb ischemia (ALI), mainly the limb salvage estimates the rate and the overall survival rate. METHODS: This was a prospective, consecutive cohort study of ALI patients with or without COVID-19 infection. Two groups of patients were identified: patients with ALI and COVID-19 infection and patients with ALI and without COVID-19 infection. The comparisons among the 2 groups were performed with proper statistical analysis methods. RESULTS: Two groups of patients were identified: ALI and COVID-19 infection with 23 patients and ALI without COVID-19 infection with 49 patients. The overall mortality rate (OMR) was 20.8% (15 patients) in total cohort within the first 30 days. COVID-19 group had a higher OMR than non–COVID-19 group (30.4% vs. 16.7%, P = 0.04). The limb salvage rate at 30 days was 79.1% in total cohort; however, non–COVID-19 infection group had higher limb salvage rates than COVID-19 infection group (89.7% vs. 60.8%, P = 0.01). A univariate and multivariate logistic regression was performed to test the factors related to a major amputation rate. Among the factors evaluated, the following were related to limb loss: D-dimer > 1,000 mg/mL (hazards ratio [HR] = 3.76, P = 0.027, CI = 1.85–5.89) and COVID-19 infection (HR = 1.38, P = 0.035, CI = 1.03–4.75). Moreover, a univariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was performed to analyze the factors related to overall mortality. Among the factors evaluated, the following were related to OMR: D-dimer > 1,000 mg/dL (HR = 2.28, P = 0.038, CI: 1.94–6.52), COVID-19 infection (HR = 1.8, P = 0.018, CI = 1.01–4.01), and pharmacomechanical thrombectomy >150 cycles (HR = 2.01, P = 0.002, CI = 1.005–6.781). CONCLUSIONS: COVID-19 has a worse prognosis among patients with ALI, with higher rates of limb loss and overall mortality relative to non-COVID patients. The main factors related to overall mortality were D-dimer > 1,000 mg/dL, COVID-19 infection, and pharmacomechanical thrombectomy >150 cycles. The factors related to limb loss were D-dimer > 1,000 mg/mL and COVID-19 infection.