Development of pulmonary embolism in a nonhospitalized patient with COVID-19 who did not receive venous thromboembolism prophylaxis.

DISCLAIMER: In an effort to expedite the publication of articles related to the COVID-19 pandemic, AJHP is posting these manuscripts online as soon as possible after acceptance. Accepted manuscripts have been peer-reviewed and copyedited, but are posted online before technical formatting and author proofing. These manuscripts are not the final version of record and will be replaced with the final article (formatted per AJHP style and proofed by the authors) at a later time. PURPOSE: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been associated with thrombotic complications such as stroke and venous thromboembolism (VTE), and VTE prophylaxis for hospitalized patients with COVID-19 is recommended. However, extended postdischarge VTE prophylaxis and VTE prophylaxis for nonhospitalized patients with COVID-19 are not routinely recommended due to uncertain benefit in these populations. SUMMARY: Here we report development of a pulmonary embolism (PE) in a young patient without other VTE risk factors who was treated for COVID-19 in an emergency department (ED) and discharged home without VTE prophylaxis, which was consistent with current recommendations. The patient presented to the ED 12 days later with complaints of chest pain for 1 day and was found to have a PE within the segmental and subsegmental branches of the left lower lobe. CONCLUSION: This case suggests that nonhospitalized patients with COVID-19 may be at higher risk for VTE than patients with other medical illnesses and warrants further research into the risk of VTE in outpatients with COVID-19.