Basic-Jukic N, Juric I, Katalinic L, Furic-Cunko V, Sesa V, Mrzljak A. Acute pancreatitis as a complication of acute COVID-19 in kidney transplant recipients. World J Clin Cases 2024; 12(6): 1104-1110 [PMID: 38464928 DOI: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i6.1104]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Nikolina Basic-Jukic, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Nephrology, Arterial Hypertension, Dialysis and Transplantation, University Hospital Centre Zagreb, No. 12 Kišpatićeva, Zagreb 10000, Croatia. nina_basic@net.hr
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Retrospective Study
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Clin Cases. Feb 26, 2024; 12(6): 1104-1110 Published online Feb 26, 2024. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v12.i6.1104
Acute pancreatitis as a complication of acute COVID-19 in kidney transplant recipients
Nikolina Basic-Jukic, Ivana Juric, Lea Katalinic, Vesna Furic-Cunko, Vibor Sesa, Anna Mrzljak
Nikolina Basic-Jukic, Ivana Juric, Lea Katalinic, Vesna Furic-Cunko, Department of Nephrology, Arterial Hypertension, Dialysis and Transplantation, University Hospital Centre Zagreb, Zagreb 10000, Croatia
Nikolina Basic-Jukic, Anna Mrzljak, Department of Medicine, School of Medicine, Zagreb 10000, Croatia
Vibor Sesa, Anna Mrzljak, Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University Hospital Centre Zagreb, Zagreb 10000, Croatia
Author contributions: Basic-Jukic N was involved in conceptualization of the study; Juric I, Katalinic L, Furic-Cunko V were responsible for data curation; Juric I and Katalinic L drafted the original version of the manuscript; Basic-Jukic N, Furic-Cunko V, Mrzljak A and Sesa V reviewed and edited the manuscript. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Institutional review board statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Ethic Committee of University Hospital Centre Zagreb (Approval No. 8.1-21/252-2).
Informed consent statement: All study participants or their legal guardian provided informed written consent about personal and medical data collection prior to study enrolment.
Conflict-of-interest statement: We have no financial relationships to disclose.
Data sharing statement: Technical appendix, statistical code, and dataset available from the corresponding author at: nina_basic@net.hr.Participants gave informed consent for data sharing.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Nikolina Basic-Jukic, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Nephrology, Arterial Hypertension, Dialysis and Transplantation, University Hospital Centre Zagreb, No. 12 Kišpatićeva, Zagreb 10000, Croatia. nina_basic@net.hr
Received: December 7, 2023 Peer-review started: December 7, 2023 First decision: December 17, 2023 Revised: December 18, 2023 Accepted: January 31, 2024 Article in press: January 31, 2024 Published online: February 26, 2024 Processing time: 74 Days and 14.7 Hours
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
Acute pancreatitis, an infrequent extrapulmonary manifestation of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), raises uncertainties about its association with the viral infection. Existing literature presents conflicting evidence, with some studies indicating elevated mortality in COVID-19 patients with acute pancreatitis while others report no significant impact.
Research motivation
No prior literature explores the occurrence of acute pancreatitis in the kidney transplant population in the context of COVID-19.
Research objectives
To describe the occurrence, clinical presentation and outcomes of acute pancreatitis in a cohort of kidney transplant recipients with acute COVID-19.
Research methods
A retrospective observational single-center cohort study conducted at a single transplant center in Croatia, encompassing all adult renal transplant recipients with a functioning kidney allograft between March 2020 and August 2022. Data, including cases of acute pancreatitis during acute COVID-19, were retrieved from electronic medical records.
Research results
Out of 1432 renal allograft recipients, 28.49% developed COVID-19. Hospitalization was necessary for 39.1% of patients, with 44.1% developing pneumonia and 1.3% requiring mechanical ventilation. Treatment involved immunosuppression modification in 77.1% and remdesivir in 16.6%, alongside other supportive measures. Acute pancreatitis occurred in one transplant recipient (0.3%). The patient recovered without complications, maintaining stable kidney allograft function.
Research conclusions
Although uncommon, acute pancreatitis may complicate the course of acute COVID-19 in kidney transplant recipients.
Research perspectives
Further research is warranted to explore the mechanism of pancreatic injury and its correlation with the severity of COVID-19 infection in kidney transplant recipients.
