COVID-19 and stroke

Abstract

Due to the pandemic of corona virus disease 2019 (COVID-19), the stroke medical care system is unavoidably undergoing major changes such as a decrease in the number of stroke patients receiving consultation, delay in consultation, and a decrease in the number of intravenous thrombolysis and mechanical thrombectomy procedures. Stroke incidence in COVID-19 patients is approximately 1.1%. The features of stroke with COVID-19 have been elucidated: higher incidence in ischemic stroke than hemorrhagic stroke, increasing number of young patients, high D-dimer levels, and higher risk in elderly patients with cardiovascular risk factors such as hypertension and diabetes. In patients with COVID-19, venous thromboembolism is more common than arterial thromboembolism, and stroke is more common than acute coronary syndrome. Protected code stroke (PCS) has been proposed which provides safe, effective and prompt treatment under complete infection control.