Gastrointestinal and hepatic manifestations of COVID-19 infection:Lessons for practitioners

摘要

Originating from Wuhan in China,coronavirus disease 2019(COVID-19)spread globally within months and was declared a pandemic by World Health Organization in March 2020,making it one of the biggest healthcare calamities of our time.As more data on COVID-19 infection became available,what was initially thought to be a simple respiratory illness was found to be more complex.Many extra-pulmonary manifestations are now frequently reported for COVID-19 in available literature,most commonly gastrointestinal and hepatopancreatobiliary manifestations.Due to early scarcity of data,extra pulmonary manifestations were initially overlooked and may have contributed to nosocomial spread of the infection.Practitioners,especially gastroenterologists,who frequently encounter patients with these symptoms,need to be aware of them.This can not only help minimize the nosocomial spread,ensure safety of provider but also help conserve already stretched-thin healthcare resources.A tremendous amount of COVID-19 related literature is getting added to the growing pool every day,making it difficult for providers to follow.The aim of our review is to summarize the available evidence for gastrointestinal and hepatopancreatobiliary manifestations of COVID-19.We here briefly discussed the possible pathophysiologic mechanism for these manifestations and summarized the recommendations put forward by multiple gastrointestinal societies regarding safe and effective clinical practice during the ongoing pandemic.