The coronavirus pandemic has resulted in profound changes in healthcare delivery, some based on official reforms and others driven by healthcare professionals' fear of exposure to coronavirus disease (COVID-19) Many patients require screening tests of one form or the other before being attended to in hospitals The protean clinical manifestations of this highly transmissible infection require that a high index of suspicion be maintained Pulmonary embolism is a potentially fatal emergency whose presentation is mimicked by COVID-19 Delays in ruling out COVID-19 may result in undue delays in initiating treatment for pulmonary embolism, potentially resulting in significant morbidity and mortality This article presents a patient whose treatment for acute pulmonary embolism was forestalled by delays in getting the polymerase chain reaction test for COVID-19 done It reiterates the need for physicians to test promptly in order to allow early focus on differential diagnoses which were routinely being investigated promptly prior to the COVID-19 pandemic
Acute Pulmonary Embolism in the COVID-19 Era: The Experience of a Ghanaian Patient