IT Correspondent
Pune, August 31:
While health authorities are struggling to get relief from COVID-19, some of the doctors have claimed that a blood thinner commonly available in the market is useful to cure coronavirus patients and helps in reducing the period of hospitalisation.
The doctors have opined that the Low Molecular Weight Heparin (LMWH) injections have turned out to be an effective therapeutic treatment for COVID-19. The subcutaneous injection has helped reduce hospitalisation period of coronavirus patients and cut down mortality by as much as 90 per cent. Blood-thinning drugs have also improved the recovery rate among COVID-19 patients.
Encouraged by the results, doctors across India have now started administering LMWH injections as a prophylactic therapy to stop blood clotting and inflammation – the two major complications that have contributed to COVID-19 deaths.
According to Dr Subhal Dixit, a critical care expert at Sanjeevan Hospital, Pune “ It is easier to prevent new blood clots/inflammation from forming, compared to treating existing blood clots or inflammation. Post-mortem reports from Italy showed that Covid-19 causes small blood clots (micro-thrombus) in blood vessels, along with inflammation.
Dr. Ujwala Mhatre, Intensivist, at Nanvati Hospital, Mumbai “ “In the marathon that is Covid treatment, anticoagulation drugs such as LMWH are valuable tools to prevent multiple mechanisms involved in Covid-associated thrombosis”.
Critical care expert Kapil Borawake, said, “The LMWH has emerged as the drug of choice — a sort of pre-requisite prophylactic during the treatment of hospitalised Covid patients. Its administration should not be delayed during the early phase of the illness. Recovered patients with pre-existing conditions are also advised to continue the drug in oral form even after discharge.
According to studies, anticoagulants have helped keep COVID-19 patients alive by preventing clot formation in their lungs. In several coronavirus cases, the pathogen has been found to attack the patient’s brain, lungs, and hearts, by causing deadly blood clots that revent oxygen flow. These injections have reportedly been preventing this effectively.
Some time back a circular was issued by the Maharashtra State Health Directorate which stated that more evidence emerges that COVID-19 is tied to an increased risk of blood clouts. A strong predictor of mortality in Covid-19 positive patients is disseminated intravascular coagulation. As an anticoagulant, low molecular weight heparin (LMWH) is recommended in the treatment of such conditions.
It said that multi-organ dysfunction syndrome is a common terminal event in Covid-19 disease. The proposed mechanism in multi-organ dysfunction syndrome are multi-factorial, but include a hyper-coagulable state with micro and macro circulatory thrombosis. A strong predictor of mortality is disseminated intravascular coagulation, with over 70 per cent of fatal cases meeting the criteria for the condition. As a coagulant, heparin may reduce thrombi in organ microcirculation, most notably in pulmonary vasculature. A dose of low molecular heparin is recommended to all hospitalised corona patients belonging to Stage I and also for those with co-morbidities.
