Post-COVID-19 Cholangiopathy: Clinical and Radiologic Findings

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus type 2 (SARS-CoV-2), presents primarily with respiratory manifestations. However, COVID-19 has increasingly been recognized as a multi -systemic disease with extra-pulmonary complications. COVID-19-associated liver injury manifests principally as hepatocellular injury, leading to a mild elevation of liver enzymes during early stages of the disease [1,2]. However, patients may develop severe cholestatic liver injury during the later stages of the disease [1,2]. A subset of these patients who exhibit features of sclerosing cholangitis are diagnosed as having post-COVID-19 cholangiopathy [3-5], also termed as COVID-19-associated secondary sclerosing cholangitis. Post-COVID-19 cholangiopathy is a relatively new and under-recognized disease entity. Therefore, raising awareness of its clinical and radiologic features can aid the early diagnosis and management of patients with post-COVID-19 cholangiopathy.