“Importantly, the majority of patients admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU) receive a central venous catheter (CVC) of which a considerable proportion develops catheter-related thrombosis (CRT). This is considered a serious complication as it may cause pulmonary embolism, increases the risk of infections, can cause catheter dysfunction or long-term central venous stenosis, and is associated with considerable healthcare costs [6,7]. When considering COVID-19 coagulopathy to cause an overall hypercoagulable state rather than mainly a local pro-thrombotic state in the pulmonary circulation, COVID-19 is presumably also associated with CRT in critically ill patients with an indwelling CVC. In this multicenter case-control study we set out to investigate the association of COVID-19 with CRT, under the hypothesis that COVID-19 predisposes to CRT in critically ill patients.”

Smit JM, Lopez Matta JE, Vink R, Müller MCA, Choi KF, van Baarle FEHP, Vlaar APJ, Klok FA, Huisman MV, Elzo Kraemer CV, Girbes ARJ, Van Westerloo DJ, Tuinman PR. Coronavirus disease 2019 is associated with catheter-related thrombosis in critically ill patients: A multicenter case-control study. Thromb Res. 2021 Jan 26;200:87-90. doi: 10.1016/j.thromres.2021.01.013. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33549899.