Review for 10.1186/s12876-020-01518-2 (2020)

Reviewer’s report
Title: 
Acute portal vein thrombosis secondary to COVID-19: a case report
Version: 
0 
Date: 
26 Jul 2020
Reviewer's report:
The authors reported a case in which the patient had portal vein thrombosis
detected during severe COVID-19 lung disease that required intubation. The
report is interesting but some parts should be improved, as follows:
1) Some misspellings in the manuscript hinder the understanding by the reader.
English edition by a native English speaker is necessary to improve the text.
2) 
The authors prescribed immunoglobulin (25 g per day for three days) because
their clinical hypothesis was SARS-COV2-induced thrombocytopenic purpura.
The way it was written could lead the reader to assume that the treatment of this
condition is exactly as provided in this case. However, different regimens have
been proposed [1-3]. The use of immunoglobulin in such situation and the dose
given should be explained, making the reader aware about other treatment
possibilities if a patient is afflicted by SARS-COV2-induced thrombocytopenic
purpura.
3) Cigarette smoking has been deemed as a risk factor for severe disease caused
by SARS-CoV-2 [4-6]. In addition, it is also a well-known risk factor for
thrombotic events. Since the patient is a smoker, the discussion should point out
the possible role of this risk factor in the complications described in this case.
4) The sentence "The diagnostic abdominal tap was done, and the results are
summarized in table2." on page 4 leads the reader to understand that the results
presented in this table are related to the ascitic fluid obtained through the
abdominal tap. However, the table 2 legend does not mention if the results
displayed were obtained from blood samples or from ascitic fluid samples.
Please add this information in the table legend.
References
1) Sue Pavord, Jecko Thachil, Beverley J Hunt, Mike Murphy, Gillian Lowe,
Mike Laffan, Mike Makris, Adrian C Newland, Drew Provan, John D Grainger,
Quentin A Hill. Practical guidance for the management of adults with immune
thrombocytopenia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Br J Haematol. 2020
Jun;189(6):1038-1043.
2) Abrar-Ahmad Zulfiqar, Noël Lorenzo-Villalba, Patrick Hassler, Emmanuel
Andrès. Immune Thrombocytopenic Purpura in a Patient with Covid-19. N Engl
J Med. 2020 Apr 30;382(18):e43. 
3) Valérie Lévesque, Émilie Millaire, Daniel Corsilli, Benjamin Rioux-Massé,
François-Martin Carrier. Severe immune thrombocytopenic purpura in critical
COVID-19. Int J Hematol. 2020 Jul 1;1-5. 
4) Constantine I Vardavas, Katerina Nikitara. COVID-19 and smoking: A
systematic review of the evidence. Tob Induc Dis. 2020 Mar 20;18:20.
5) Samuel James Brake, Kathryn Barnsley, Wenying Lu, Kielan Darcy
McAlinden, Mathew Suji Eapen, Sukhwinder Singh Sohal. Smoking Upregulates
Angiotensin-Converting Enzyme-2 Receptor: A Potential Adhesion Site for
Novel Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (Covid-19). J Clin Med. 2020 Mar
20;9(3):841. 
6) Javier C. Vázquez, Diego Redolar-Ripoll. COVID-19 outbreak impact in
Spain: A role for tobacco smoking? Tobacco Induced Diseases
2020;18(April):30
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Is the study design appropriate to answer the research question (including the use
of appropriate controls), and are the conclusions supported by the evidence
presented?
No
Are the methods sufficiently described to allow the study to be repeated?
No
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Yes
Is the presentation of the work clear?
No
Are the images in this manuscript (including electrophoretic gels and blots) free
from apparent manipulation?
Yes