Abstract

Background: Pulmonary embolism is a frequent, serious and life-threatening complication that represents the embolization of mostly thrombotic material into the pulmonary arteries, with complete or partial occlusion of one or more of its branches. Objective: To analyze the effectiveness of new anticoagulants (NOAC) in the long-term treatment of pulmonary embolism (PE) in patients with and without COVID-19. Methods: Retrospective and descriptive analysis based on data from medical records in the period 2021-2023. from the Zenica Cantonal Hospital. Results: Data were collected from 160 respondents, of which 33 (20.6%) were COVID-19 positive and 127 (79.4%) were not. Subjects with COVID-19 in 12 (36.4%) cases had reference D-dimer values, while 21 (63.6%) had elevated values. 9.1% had elevated platelet values, 78.8% had reference values, and 12.1% had decreased values. Among subjects without COVID-19, 50 (39.4%) had reference values of D-dimer, while 77 (60.6%) had an increase. 1 (0.8%) of subjects had decreased platelet values, 118 (92.9%) had reference values, and 8 (6.3%) had increased platelet values. No subjects with decreased D-dimer values were recorded. Conclusion: DOAC therapy showed equal efficacy in the long-term treatment of pulmonary embolism in both study groups, regardless of whether the subjects had COVID-19 or not.

Key words: COVID-19, D-dimers, direct oral anticoagulants, pulmonary embolism.