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Review
. 2020 Nov;32(11):1466-1469.
doi: 10.1097/MEG.0000000000001792.

Kinetic patterns of liver enzyme elevation with COVID-19 in the USA

Ben L Da  1 , Robert A Mitchell, Brian T Lee, Ponni Perumalswami, Gene Y Im, Ritu Agarwal, Thomas D Schiano, Douglas Dieterich, Behnam Saberi
Affiliations
Review

Kinetic patterns of liver enzyme elevation with COVID-19 in the USA

Ben L Da et al. Eur J Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2020 Nov.

Abstract

COVID-19 is a global pandemic that started in Wuhan, China. COVID-19 related liver enzyme elevations have been described however the clinical presentation, enzyme kinetics, and associated laboratory abnormalities of these patients have not been well described. Five cases of COVID-19 associated liver enzyme elevations are reported here. We found that COVID-19 related liver enzyme elevations occurred in a hepatocellular pattern and persisted throughout the initial hospitalization in all patients. Abnormalities in lactate dehydrogenase and ferritin levels were seen in all five cases. In conclusion, abnormalities in aminotransferase, lactate dehydrogenase, and ferritin levels are commonly seen in COVID-19 related liver injury. Elevated aminotransferase levels often persist throughout the entire hospitalization. However, the clinical course of COVID-19 related liver injury appears benign.

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Conflict of interest statement

D.D.: Participates on the advisory board and received research grants from Gilead and Abbvie. For the remaining authors, there are no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1.
Fig. 1.
(a) AST enzyme pattern of COVID-19 patients. Trends of AST of patients since admission. (b) ALT enzyme pattern of COVID-19 patients. Trends of ALT of patients since admission. AST, aspartate aminotransferase; ALT, alanine aminotransferase.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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