Doctors will also need to be vigilant when it comes to treatment. Cases identified so far are of, or blood clots in the brain's veins, rather than in the arteries, which is the case for most strokes.
The FDA warned healthcare providers that use of heparin in these cases could even be fatal and advised them to strongly consider non-heparin anticoagulants and high-dose intravenous immune globulin instead. According to details published in the New England Journal of Medicine on Friday, a 48-year-old woman who had the J&J shot was transferred to the University of Nebraska Medical Center after being diagnosed with extensive blood clotting, or thrombosis. She was treated with heparin, but her condition worsened and she was switched to a different anticoagulant and IVIG. The patient remained critically ill at the time of the report.