Liver stiffness by transient elastography accompanies illness severity in COVID-19.
BMJ Open Gastroenterol
; 7(1)2020 07.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-646328
ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE:
Severe liver damage is associated with worse outcome in COVID-19. Our aim was to explore the degree of liver damage, liver stiffness (LS) and severity of illness in patients with COVID-19.DESIGN:
We investigated 32 patients with COVID-19 admitted to the University Hospital of Innsbruck in a prospective cross-sectional study. We performed laboratory testing, liver and spleen sonography and elastography to measure organ stiffness.RESULTS:
12 patients (38%) showed elevated aminotransferases and gamma-glutamyltransferase levels. LS was positively correlated with elevated aminotransferase levels in patients with COVID-19 compared with those without elevated enzymes. Even mild liver damage raised LS significantly in COVID-19 as it was in patients with gastrointestinal symptoms. Furthermore, higher LS measurements were significantly associated with illness severity like pneumonia, need for mechanical ventilation, and even death.CONCLUSION:
Transient elastography is a useful and non-invasive tool to assess onset and severity of acute liver injury in patients with COVID-19 patients. Increased LS seems to be predictive for a more severe and complicated course of disease.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Pneumonia, Viral
/
Coronavirus Infections
/
Elasticity Imaging Techniques
/
Betacoronavirus
/
Liver
/
Liver Diseases
Type of study:
Cohort study
/
Diagnostic study
/
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Topics:
Long Covid
Limits:
Aged
/
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Language:
English
Year:
2020
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
Bmjgast-2020-000445
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