Green Country Doctor Sees Spike In Pulmonary Embolism In Post-COVID Patients

Green Country doctors are seeing a rise in the number of post-COVID patients suffering from blood clots in their lungs.

A number of studies done over the last year confirm their suspicions - that COVID-19 is linked to an increased risk of pulmonary embolism.

“Patients with pulmonary embolism can be very, very sick. Pulmonary embolism in general is the third cause of cardiovascular death all over the world, behind heart-attack and stroke," said Dr. Robert Smith, the Chief of Staff at Hillcrest Hospital South.

Early in the pandemic, Dr. Smith noticed a big spike in patients who'd had COVID and were hospitalized with a pulmonary embolism.

"Both the number and the severity," he said. “Usually, one to two months after the initial diagnosis. And the reason for that is the blood clots form in the legs and they might sit there for a while, the patient gets to feeling better, gets up and around and they dislodge and move through the circulation into the lungs.”

Smith said the best thing to do is avoid COVID complications altogether by getting vaccinated.

He said common symptoms are sudden shortness of breath, chest pains, or sharp pain when you breathe in deeply.