An Italian doctor claimed that he has demonstrated the cause of coronavirus lethality, which spurs hope for treatment of coronavirus. He said that the cause of severity in coronavirus patients were due to cardiovascular problem and not respiratory.

Dr. Sandro Giannini, professor of Orthopedics and Traumatology and Physical Medicine at University of Bologna said after getting the first research data on coronavirus lethality that people go to resuscitation when they go to a condition called venous thrombo embolism (VTE), particularly, a condition called pulmonary embolism, reported Buongiorno News. He practices at Clinical Institute Beato Matteo, Vigevano PV, Italy. "It is venous microthrombosis, not pneumonia that determines fatality." said the doctor. He says that ventilation is of no use in such a situation but anti-inflammatory drugs.

What is VTE? Venous Thrombo Embolism (VTE) is a condition where blood clots are formed, often in the deep veins of the leg, groin or arm (Deep Vein Thrombosis, DVT) and the clot travels in the blood circulation, lodging in the lungs (known as Pulmonary Embolism, PE)

In such a case, resuscitations and intubations for ventilating lungs are useless says Giannini, "because first of all you have to dissolve, indeed prevent these thromboembolisms"

Ventilation only wouldn't be useful

"If you ventilate a lung where blood does not reach, it is not useful," he explained. In fact 9 out of 10 die in such cases because the problem is cardiovascular, not respiratory related. "It is venous micro thrombosis, not pneumonia that determines fatality!"

He further explains why thrombi (blood clots) are formed; saying that inflammation caused by coronavirus induces thrombosis through a complex but well-known, pathophysiological mechanism, which any medical textbook can explain.

Italy's curve flattened because of this

It was anti-inflammatory that helps he says adding that Italy was now using anti-inflammatories and antibiotics 'as in the influences' this resulted in a decrease of number of inpatients. This is contrary to scientific literature, specifically China's which, until mid-March said that anti-inflammatories should not be used, according to Giannini.

"Here the inflammation destroyed everything and prepared the ground for the formation of thrombi," he said, because the main problem was not with coronavirus, but immune system's reaction that destroys cells where virus enters, causing inflammation.

He said, "That's why in our COVID units, patients never entered rheumatoid arthritis (inflammation causing joint pains), because they use 'cortisone', which is a powerful anti-inflammatory."

Difficult to understand

He said that the phenomenon was not easy to understand because the signs of microembolism(blood clots) faded even when echocardiogram (this procedure is to find out the conditions of heart such as blood clots inside the heart) was done.

This was the reason why hospitalizations were decreasing in Italy and "is becoming a disease that is treated at home."

"In America and other states that follow the scientific literature calling for NOT to use anti-inflammatories, it's a disaster!"

There has been research on the positive impact of the usage of anti-inflammatory drugs in treating COVID-19.