%0 Journal Article
%T Incidence of Secondary Sclerosing Cholangitis in Hospitalized Long COVID-19 Patients: A Retrospective Single Center Study.
%A Werner CR
%A Fusco S
%A Kienzle K
%A Döbele S
%A Artzner K
%A Malek NP
%A Wichmann D
%A Göpel S
%J Diagnostics (Basel)
%V 14
%N 7
%D 2024 Mar 30
%M 38611659
%F 3.992
%R 10.3390/diagnostics14070745
%X BACKGROUND: SARS-CoV-2 infection and associated COVID-19 disease can lead to critical illness with a risk of developing a multiple organ failure. Subsequently, this may lead to various pathological sequelae, such as secondary sclerosing cholangitis after surviving COVID-19 (SSC-COVID).
OBJECTIVE: The aim is to retrospectively analyze a cohort of hospitalized patients with first-wave (February 2020-June 2020) SARS-CoV-2 infection and persisting unclear cholangiopathy to determine the incidence of SSC-COVID and its risk factors.
RESULTS: A total of 249 patients were hospitalized at the university hospital in Tübingen, Germany, with SARS-CoV-2 infection during the first wave of the pandemic. Of these, 35.3% (88/249) required intensive care treatment; 16.5% (41/249) of them died due to the complications of COVID-19; 30.8% (64/208) of surviving patients could be followed up und were retrospectively analyzed at our center. The incidence of confirmed SSC-COVID was 7.8% (5/64). All SSC-COVID patients had an ICU stay >20 days, for invasive ventilation, positioning treatment, vasopressor treatment, but possible risk factors for SSC were not significant due to the small number of patients.
CONCLUSIONS: SSC-COVID is an emerging disease in post-COVID patients with a high incidence in our single-center cohort. SSC-COVID should be considered as a differential diagnosis, if unclear cholangiopathy or cholestasis persists after SARS-CoV-2 infection.