INTRODUCTION: This article aims to survey the literature on the association between COVID-19 and thromboembolic events, with a major focus on pulmonary thromboembolism, through a systematic review conducted in national and international journals without temporal delimitation, from articles indexed in multidisciplinary and health bases. OBJECTIVES: The databases investigated were: BVS, PubMed, Eric, SciELO, Web of Science, and Sociological Abstracts. Among the studies found, 49 articles were selected. MATERIALS AND METHOD: Some were then used to produce the “literature review” section. Because pulmonary thromboembolism (PTE) and COVID-19 can present the same symptoms, the diagnosis of PTE becomes more difficult and there is a greater need for studies on the subject. RESULTS: Studies show the relation between the severity of the condition and the occurrence of thrombotic events, and this can be observed in the higher incidence of the problem in patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs). FINAL CONSIDERATIONS: Furthermore, it is important to mention the importance of the dosage of d-dimer in the patient, a factor with high prediction for the occurrence of thrombotic events. The challenges to improve diagnosis and treatment are mainly due to the difficulty in understanding the pathophysiology, triggering events, and studies about the subject.
