The Liver’s Fate amid COVID-19 pandemic

Muhammad Begawan Bestari, Siti Aminah Abdurachman

Abstract


Corona-virus disease (COVID-19) affected medical services worldwide because of its pandemic nature; including patients with chronic liver disease (CLD). Generally, there are three situations in which CLD patients can be affected by the coronavirus. Patients who have pre-existing liver conditions, especially those that need constant follow-up, will be exposed during follow-up visits to the hospital and are more vulnerable to infection. Second, patients with COVID-19 who have liver function derangements and incidental findings of ongoing CLD, especially those with cirrhosis will have more severe courses of the disease and possible acute-on-chronic liver failure. Finally, patients who undergo treatment for CLD who are infected with COVID-19, where drug-drug interactions are possible (e.g. lopinavir-ritonavir) that may increase the concentration of the protease inhibitor DAA for Hepatitis C treatment. This review is aims to provide guidelines for managing patients with CLD amid the pandemic, and how we move forward after the lockdown.

Keywords


chronic liver disease, hepatitis B, hepatitis C, cirrhosis, COVID-19

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