Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2021. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Cases. Jul 6, 2021; 9(19): 4918-4938
Published online Jul 6, 2021. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v9.i19.4918
Gastroenterology and liver disease during COVID-19 and in anticipation of post-COVID-19 era: Current practice and future directions
Katerina G Oikonomou, Panagiotis Papamichalis, Tilemachos Zafeiridis, Maria Xanthoudaki, Evangelia Papapostolou, Asimina Valsamaki, Konstantinos Bouliaris, Michail Papamichalis, Marios Karvouniaris, Panagiotis J Vlachostergios, Apostolia-Lemonia Skoura, Apostolos Komnos
Katerina G Oikonomou, Panagiotis Papamichalis, Tilemachos Zafeiridis, Maria Xanthoudaki, Evangelia Papapostolou, Asimina Valsamaki, Apostolos Komnos, Intensive Care Unit, General Hospital of Larissa, Larissa 41221, Thessaly, Greece
Konstantinos Bouliaris, Surgical Department, General Hospital of Larissa, Larissa 41221, Thessaly, Greece
Michail Papamichalis, Department of Cardiology, University Hospital of Larissa, Larissa 41110, Thessaly, Greece
Marios Karvouniaris, Apostolia-Lemonia Skoura, Intensive Care Unit, University Hospital of Larissa, Larissa 41110, Thessaly, Greece
Panagiotis J Vlachostergios, Division of Hematology and Medical Oncology, Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medicine, New York, NY 10065, United States
Apostolia-Lemonia Skoura, Transfusion Medicine Department, University Hospital of Larissa, Larissa 41110, Thessaly, Greece
Author contributions: Zafeiridis T, Papamichalis P and Oikonomou KG designed the review; Papamichalis P and Oikonomou KG analyzed and interpreted the data and wrote the final version of the manuscript; Zafeiridis T, Xanthoudaki M, Papapostolou E, Valsamaki A, Bouliaris K and Skoura AL collected the data and drafted the manuscript; Papamichalis M, Karvouniaris M, Vlachostergios PJ and Komnos A critically reviewed the paper; Oikonomou KG and Vlachostergios PJ performed English editing.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflict of interest to declare.
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: http://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Panagiotis Papamichalis, MD, PhD, Consultant Physician-Scientist, Doctor, Intensive Care Unit, General Hospital of Larissa, Tsakalof 1, Larissa 41221, Thessaly, Greece. ppapamih@med.uth.gr
Received: February 23, 2021
Peer-review started: February 23, 2021
First decision: March 28, 2021
Revised: April 10, 2021
Accepted: May 25, 2021
Article in press: May 25, 2021
Published online: July 6, 2021
Processing time: 121 Days and 5.1 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected every aspect of current medical practice. Patients with gastro-intestinal and liver diseases are not only prone to develop serious complications from COVID-19 but also to have their disease incorrectly or not timely diagnosed and not properly followed up. In this review, we summarize the impact of the pandemic on the course of the disease and the treatment of these patients. In addition, we discuss the changes in everyday practice that were adapted in our effort to protect patients and healthcare workers, with a focus on emerging tools such as telemedicine.