Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2022 Jan-Dec:10:23247096211065625.
doi: 10.1177/23247096211065625.

COVID-19-Associated Ischemic Colitis: A Rare Manifestation of COVID-19 Infection-Case Report and Review

Dustin J Uhlenhopp  1 , Rajarajeshwari Ramachandran  2 , Eric Then  2 , Swetha Parvataneni  3 , Tyler Grantham  4 , Vinaya Gaduputi  5
Affiliations
Review

COVID-19-Associated Ischemic Colitis: A Rare Manifestation of COVID-19 Infection-Case Report and Review

Dustin J Uhlenhopp et al. J Investig Med High Impact Case Rep. 2022 Jan-Dec.

Abstract

Following the first report of COVID-19 infection in December 2019 as a respiratory illness, it has proven to be a multisystem disease. There are few reported cases of ischemic colitis with COVID-19 infection in the medical literature to date and we have limited understanding of its pathophysiology. We report 2 cases of ischemic colitis as the only manifestation of COVID-19. In addition, we review the current limited literature regarding COVID-19-associated ischemic colitis.

Keywords: COVID-19; colonic ischemia; coronavirus; gastrointestinal manifestation; ischemic colitis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests: The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Flexible sigmoidoscopy—severely edematous, friable, ulcerated descending colon.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Colonic biopsy—loss of goblet cells and hyalinization of lamina propria.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Flexible sigmoidoscopy—cratered, clean-based, nonbleeding ulcer in the descending colon.
Figure 4.
Figure 4.
Colonic biopsy—loss of goblet cells, hyalinization of lamina propria and focal hemorrhage.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Archived: WHO Timeline–COVID-19. Who.int. https://www.who.int/news/item/27-04-2020-who-timeline—covid-19. Accessed October 18, 2021.
    1. WHO Director-General’s opening remarks at the media briefing on COVID-19–11 March 2020. Who.int. https://www.who.int/director-general/speeches/detail/who-director-genera.... Accessed July 19, 2021.
    1. CDC. COVID data tracker. Cdc.gov. https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/cases-updates/cases-in-us.html. Accessed July 19, 2021.
    1. Guan W-J, Ni Z-Y, Hu Y, et al.. Clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 in China. N Engl J Med. 2020;382(18):1708-1720. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Huang C, Wang Y, Li X, et al.. Clinical features of patients infected with 2019 novel coronavirus in Wuhan, China. Lancet. 2020;395(10223):497-506. - PMC - PubMed