A new challenge for the liver in the 21st century

Abstract

Recently accumulating evidence suggests that if patients have existing diffuse liver disease, the risk of developing serious complications both for the liver itself and for the course of COVID-19 increases significantly. The presented article provides information on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the social aspects of human life, changes in the daily routine, which has a particularly unfavorable course on non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. In turn, a relationship has been found between progressive liver fibrosis in NAFLD patients and the severe course of COVID-19. It is noted that in patients with alcoholic liver disease the incidence of which increases with self-isolation, cases of severe bilateral pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome with unfavorable outcomes, including cardiopulmonary and multiple organ failure, have been described. It is shown that patients with cirrhosis of the liver, especially those with decompensated form, are the most vulnerable group of patients, since immune dysfunction makes them prone to any type of infection, including COVID-19, with potentially serious consequences. It was noted that the risk of detecting liver cancer at later stages increased in about 25% of patients with a biologically aggressive type of disease against the background of the COVID-19 pandemic.