Trop Med Infect Dis. 2020 Sep 16;5(3):E147. doi: 10.3390/tropicalmed5030147.
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND: Patients with coronavirus infectious disease 2019 (COVID-19) and gastrointestinal symptoms showed increased values of fecal calprotectin (FC). Additionally, bowel abnormalities were a common finding during abdominal imaging of individuals with COVID-19 despite being asymptomatic. The current pilot study aims at evaluating FC concentrations in patients without gastrointestinal symptoms.
METHODS: we enrolled 25 consecutive inpatients with COVID-19 pneumonia, who were admitted without gastrointestinal symptoms and a previous history of inflammatory bowel disease.
RESULTS: At admission, 21 patients showed increased FC with median values of 116 (87.5; 243.5) mg/kg despite absent gastrointestinal symptoms. We found a strong positive correlation between FC and D-Dimer (r = 0.745, p < 0.0001). Two patients developed bowel perforation.
CONCLUSION: our findings may change the current understanding of COVID-19 intestinal-related disease pathogenesis, shedding new light on the potential role of thrombosis and the consequent hypoxic intestinal damage.
PMID:32947803 | DOI:10.3390/tropicalmed5030147