Case Report: Liver Cysts and SARS-CoV-2: No Evidence of Virus in Cystic Fluid.

ABSTRACT

Background: In December 2019, an outbreak of pneumonia, caused by a new type of coronavirus, named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). It quickly spread worldwide, resulting in a pandemic. The clinical manifestations of SARS-CoV-2 range from mild non-specific symptoms to severe pneumonia with organ function damage. In addition, up to 60% of patients have liver impairment or dysfunction, confirmed by several studies by the presence of SARS-CoV-2 in the liver tissue. Methods: We report two cases of symptomatic liver cyst requiring fenestration after recent SARS-CoV-2 infection. Both patients had hospital admission due to documented SARS-CoV-2 infection. Recently, after the infection, they developed symptoms caused by an enlarged hepatic cyst one had abdominal pain, and the other had jaundice. They underwent surgery after two negative swab tests for SARS-CoV-2. Results: Cystic fluid was sent for microbiological test, and real-time fluorescence polymerase chain reaction COVID-19 nucleic-acid assay of the cyst fluid was found to be negative in both cases. Discussion: Although there are no current data that can document a viral contamination of cystic fluid, there are data that document a hepatotropism of COVID-19 virus. Herein we report that after viral clearance at pharyngeal and nasal swab, there is no evidence of viral load in such potential viral reservoir.