Authors: MGH NEWS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This article is part of Harvard Medical School\u2019s <\/strong><\/em>continuing coverage<\/strong><\/em><\/a> of medicine, biomedical research, medical education and policy related to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the disease COVID-19.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Patients hospitalized with severe COVID-19 infections who have high levels of the blood clotting protein factor V<\/a> are at elevated risk for serious injury from blood clots such as deep vein thrombosis or pulmonary embolism, according to a new study by Harvard Medical School investigators at Massachusetts General Hospital.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On the other hand, critically ill patients with COVID-19 and\u00a0low<\/em>\u00a0levels of factor V appear to be at increased risk for death from a form of coagulopathy that resembles disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC)\u2014a devastating, often fatal abnormality in which blood clots form in small vessels throughout the body, leading to exhaustion of clotting factors and proteins that control coagulation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n