Introduction
As of the end of December 2019, the Covid-19, also known as Coronavirus, has spread all over the world. Many clinical studies have been conducted to predict how the prognosis will progress after the diagnosis is made. The target organ for Covid-19 is the lung, and the disease may develop acute lung damage that may progress to respiratory and multiple organ failures (1). Although the most important complication of Covid-19 infection is a severe lung infection and acute respiratory failure, it also affects other organs of the body, and non-respiratory infections can have significant side effects such as disorder of the blood coagulation system and thrombosis (2-5). Studies have shown that Covid-19 may cause thrombosis in both venous and arterial systems, affecting endothelial dysfunction, inflammation, stasis in blood flow, and thrombocyte activation (1-5). Familiarity with the signs and symptoms of thrombosis and their treatment plays an important role in treating Covid-19 infection and its complications.
D-Dimer is one of the components produced after the destruction of fibrin in the blood clot, and its level is measured routinely in vascular thrombosis diagnosis. Any pathological or non-pathological process that raises fibrin production and breakage will also increase the amount of D-Dimer (6). As a cross-linked fibrin degradation product, D-Dimer is known as an important biomarker in the study of vascular embolism. However, this marker has low specificity because it increases in cases where the body’s homeostasis system is activated, such as pregnancy, inflammation, cancer, trauma, liver disease, heart disease, sepsis, hemodialysis, and cardiovascular resuscitation (6,7).
Mean platelet volume (MPV) measurement is a simple method to measure platelet function and shows the production and stimulation rate of the platelet. Larger platelets are both more enzymatically and metabolically active than smaller platelets and have greater prothrombotic potential. Thus, an increase in MPV can be accepted as a characteristic of platelet activity (8). Studies have shown that high MVP is venous thromboembolism (VTE) predictor, especially venous thromboembolism of unknown origin (9,10). These findings support the belief that platelet activity might play a role in the pathogenesis of venous thromboembolism in Covid-19 infections (11,12). This study investigates whether MPV and D-Dimer values could determine the thrombosis and mortality risk in Covid 19 early stages.