Does Covid-19 Cause Long-term Liver Damage? Expert Explains

Liver injury may cause more than just a temporary increase in liver enzymes during the Covid-19 infection, but also long-term scarring and damage, says a study. According to Dr Akash Shukla, Director and Consultant, Department of Hepatology, Sir H N Reliance Foundation Hospital and Research Centre, the virus has a special affinity for cells that line the bile duct both inside and outside the liver.

A new study has discovered evidence that COVID-19 infection causes increased liver stiffness and may result in long-term liver damage. “Our study is part of emerging evidence that COVID-19 infection may lead to liver injury that lasts well after acute illness,” study author Firouzeh Heidari, a post-doctoral research fellow at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, said at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

The study, published in scitechdaily.com, is significant because liver stiffness is a marker of liver damage such as inflammation or fibrosis. If the fibrosis progresses, it can lead to liver cancer and liver failure.

The researchers compared the liver stiffness of patients with a history of COVID-19 infection in two control groups in the retrospective study. Between 2019 and 2022, all patients at Massachusetts General Hospital underwent ultrasound shear wave elastography. Shear wave elastography is a specialised technique for measuring the stiffness of tissue using sound waves.

Dr Shukla explained the findings and said, “The COVID-19 virus has a special affinity to cholangiocytes, cells which line the bile duct within and outside the liver.

“Additionally, the liver, being the largest immune organ of the body, becomes the target of antigen-antibody complexes following a COVID infection. Therefore, COVID tends to affect the liver in over half of the cases,” he said.

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