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Written by: Li Enci
2020-08-05 13:17
Last update date: 2020-08-05 13:17The new crown pneumonia epidemic hit Hong Kong for more than half a year. The Faculty of Medicine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong studied the first 1,040 patients in Hong Kong and found that about two of them had liver damage. The team calculates that the risk of such patients' condition worsening to the point that they need to be hospitalized in the intensive care unit, use equipment to assist breathing, and even die is eight times that of other patients.
Professor Huang Lihong of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology of the Department of Internal Medicine and Drug Therapy of the Faculty of Medicine of CUHK explained that when the body develops an inflammatory response, reactive hepatitis may be triggered; and pneumonia can also affect blood pressure and unstable oxygen supply, resulting in ischemic hepatitis. In addition, patients taking antibiotics, steroids or antiviral drugs may affect liver function.
The research team recommends that doctors and nurses should check the liver function of patients with new coronary pneumonia twice a week and find their condition early. The research results have been published in the famous medical journal "Gut".
The Chinese University of Hong Kong School of Medicine studied the first 1,040 patients in Hong Kong and found that about two of them had liver damage. (From left: Professor Huang Weishen, Professor Huang Lihong and Dr. Ye Zhuofeng) (Photo from CUHK)
The first thousand patients are young, and it is estimated that more than 20% of patients have liver damage
Researchers from the Faculty of Medicine of the Chinese University of Hong Kong analyzed the first 1,040 patients in Hong Kong, ranging in age from 22 to 52, with a median of 35 years. The team found that 23% of patients had increased levels of the liver enzyme "Alanine aminotransferase" or "Aspartate aminotransferase", reflecting their liver damage. In other words, one out of four to five patients with new coronary pneumonia has liver damage. Huang Weishen, director of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology of the Department of Internal Medicine and Drug Therapy of the Faculty of Medicine, CUHK, said that patients infected with various coronaviruses may have hepatitis, cholestasis, or both.
In addition, in the patient data, 53 people have been in the intensive care unit, 22 people have needed equipment to assist breathing, and four people have died, of which more than seven adults have liver damage. The team estimates that patients with new coronary pneumonia with liver damage are estimated to have eight times the risk of worsening the condition of other patients.
Professor Huang Lihong of the Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology of the Department of Internal Medicine and Drug Therapy of CUHK added that older age is one of the high risk factors for liver damage, and the first batch of patients analyzed by the team is younger. She estimated that after the third wave of the epidemic in Hong Kong, the proportion of patients with liver damage should exceed 20%.
Huang Lihong explained that when the body has inflammation, such as general pneumonia or other infections, reactive hepatitis may be triggered. (Image from CUHK)
Ye Zhuofeng, a post-doctoral researcher in the Department of Internal Medicine and Therapeutics of the Faculty of Medicine, CUHK, said that patients with new coronary pneumonia with liver damage are significantly worsening than other patients. Huang Lihong said that common liver damage can be divided into two categories. One is the patient's own liver problems, or it is related to new coronary pneumonia. Among more than 1,000 patients, only 4% suffer from hepatitis B themselves, and 0.3% suffer from hepatitis C themselves, which is a very low proportion.
Huang Lihong explained that when the body has inflammation, such as general pneumonia or other infections, reactive hepatitis may be triggered. Pneumonia also affects blood pressure and unstable oxygen supply, causing ischemic hepatitis. In addition, patients taking antibiotics, steroids, and antiviral drugs, such as protease inhibitors, ribavirin, and interferon, may affect liver function. She also said that medication may not be the only factor that affects the liver, because the patient's own pneumonia is also more serious.
▼In the third wave, the government has extended the restrictions on gatherings and banned food in the evening market.▼
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The research team put forward 36 recommendations for the treatment of patients with liver disease in the Asia-Pacific region, including medical staff for every two liver function tests for patients with new coronary pneumonia. If the condition is abnormal, the frequency can be more frequent. In addition, for patients with hepatitis B, anti-hepatitis virus treatment should be started. She also mentioned that protease inhibitors should be avoided at the same time as the hepatitis B antiviral drug "tenofovir" and can be temporarily switched to "entecavir" to treat hepatitis.
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