Open AccessGastrointestinal perforation in COVID-19 patients – case series and review of the literature
Author(s) -
Deepak Verma,
Satyavan Sharma,
Lalit Garg,
Aishwarya Tinaikar
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
clinical surgery research communications
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2573-0096
pISSN - 2573-0088
DOI - 10.31491/csrc.2020.12.064
Subject(s) - medicine , perforation , covid-19 , gastrointestinal perforation , gastrointestinal tract , abdominal pain , bowel perforation , complication , coronavirus , surgery , gastroenterology , diarrhea , pandemic , peritonitis , disease , materials science , infectious disease (medical specialty) , punching , metallurgy
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV 2) involving the respiratory tract started in 2019 in Wuhan, China but spread to almost all parts of the world to the extent that it was declared a pandemic by WHO. As more and more cases are detected, the involvement of systems other than respiratory was observed and nearly 5 to 50 % of patients have abdominal symptoms like pain and diarrhea. During the course of treatment, few patients developed a rare complication of gastrointestinal perforation. Three cases (two with colonic perforation and one with gastric perforation) of gastrointestinal perforation in COVID-19 positive patient are reported in the article with a review of the literature regarding the various hypothesis of intestinal perforation in these patients. Keywords: COVID-19; gastrointestinal perforation; severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV 2); Tocilizumab