Post–Covid-19 Cholangiopathy—A New Indication for Liver Transplantation: A Case Report

• Published in: Transplantation proceedings Vol. 53; no. 4; pp. 1132 - 1137
• Main Authors: Durazo, Francisco A., Nicholas, Allyssa A., Mahaffey, Jennifer J., Sova, Shannon, Evans, John J., Trivella, Juan Pablo, Loy, Veronica, Kim, Joohyun, Zimmerman, Michael A., Hong, Johnny C.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.05.2021
• Subjects: COVID-19 - complications; COVID-19 - surgery; End Stage Liver Disease - surgery; End Stage Liver Disease - virology; Humans; Liver - surgery; Liver - virology; Liver Transplantation; Male; Middle Aged; Post-Acute COVID-19 Syndrome; SARS-CoV-2
• ISSN: 0041-1345; 1873-2623
• DOI: 10.1016/j.transproceed.2021.03.007

•Post–COVID-19 cholangiopathy is a variant of secondary sclerosing cholangitis.•Post–COVID-19 cholangiopathy can lead to progressive severe liver injury.•We report the first case of liver transplantation for post–COVID-19 cholangiopathy. Liver injury is one of the nonpulmonary manifestations described in coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Post–COVID-19 cholangiopathy is a special entity of liver injury that has been suggested as a variant of secondary sclerosing cholangitis in critically ill patients (SSC-CIP). In the general population, the outcome of SSC-CIP has been reported to be poor without orthotopic liver transplantation (OLT). However, the role of OLT for post–COVID-19 cholangiopathy is unknown. We present a case report of a 47-year-old man who recovered from acute respiratory distress syndrome from COVID-19 and subsequently developed end-stage liver disease from post–COVID-19 cholangiopathy. The patient underwent OLT and is doing well with normal liver tests for 7 months. To our knowledge, this is the first case report of a patient who underwent successful liver transplantation for post–COVID-19 cholangiopathy.