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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2020. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Oct 6, 2020; 8(19): 4303-4310
Published online Oct 6, 2020. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v8.i19.4303
Liver injury in COVID-19: A minireview
Jian-Nan Zhao, Ying Fan, Shuo-Dong Wu
Jian-Nan Zhao, Ying Fan, Shuo-Dong Wu, Department of General Surgery, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, Shenyang 110004, Liaoning Province, China
Author contributions: Zhao JN drafted and revised the manuscript; Fan Y and Wu SD reviewed and revised the manuscript; All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors declare no conflict of interests for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Ying Fan, MD, PhD, Doctor, Professor, Department of General Surgery, Shengjing Hospital of China Medical University, No. 36 Sanhao Street, Heping District, Shenyang 110004, Liaoning Province, China. coolingpine78@163.com
Received: April 30, 2020
Peer-review started: April 30, 2020
First decision: May 21, 2020
Revised: June 1, 2020
Accepted: September 8, 2020
Article in press: September 8, 2020
Published online: October 6, 2020
Abstract

In December 2019, an outbreak of unexplained pneumonia was reported in Wuhan, China. The World Health Organization officially named this disease as novel coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Liver injury was observed in patients with COVID-19, and its severity varied depending on disease severity, geographical area, and patient age. Systemic inflammatory response, immune damage, ischemia-reperfusion injury, viral direct damage, drug induce, mechanical ventilation, and underlying diseases may contribute to liver injury. Although, in most cases, mild liver dysfunction is observed, which is usually temporary and does not require special treatment, the importance of monitoring liver injury should be emphasized for doctors. The risk of COVID-19 infection of liver transplantation recipients caused more and more concerns. In this article, we aimed to review the available literature on liver injury in COVID-19 to highlight the importance of monitoring and treating liver injury in COVID-19.

Keywords: Liver injury, COVID-19, Novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2, Hepatoprotective drugs, Pandemic

Core Tip: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. Liver injury was observed in COVID-19 patients especially in severe and critical types. Liver injury presented differentially based on disease severity, geographical areas, and patient age. It may be related to systemic inflammatory response, immune damage, ischemia-reperfusion injury, viral direct damage, drug induce, mechanical ventilation, and underlying diseases. Special treatment is unnecessary in most mild liver injury cases and only one or two types of hepatoprotective drugs should be used to treat significant liver injury. Monitoring liver function is important parameter during the treatment of COVID-19 as it affects survival and recovery of patients, and its significance should be emphasized for doctors treating the disease.