Secondary Sclerosing Cholangitis Following Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): A Multicenter Retrospective Study.

Background: Secondary sclerosing cholangitis (SSC) is a rare disease with poor prognosis. Cases of SSC have been reported following coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-SSC). The aim of this study was to compare COVID-SSC to SSC in critically ill patients (SSC-CIP) and to assess factors influencing transplant-free survival.
Methods: In this retrospective, multicenter study involving 127 patients with SSC from 9 tertiary care centers in Germany, COVID-SSC was compared to SSC-CIP and logistic regression analyses were performed investigating factors impacting transplant-free survival.
Results: Twenty-four patients had COVID-SSC, 77 patients SSC-CIP, and 26 patients other forms of SSC. COVID-SSC developed after a median of 91 days following COVID-19 diagnosis. All patients had received extensive intensive care treatment (median days of mechanical ventilation, 48). Patients with COVID-SSC and SSC-CIP were comparable in most of the clinical parameters and transplant-free survival was not different from other forms of SSC (P = .443, log-rank test). In the overall cohort, the use of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) (odds ratio [OR], 0.36 [95% confidence interval {CI}, .16-.80], P = .013; log-rank P < .001) and high serum albumin levels (OR, 0.40 [95% CI, .17-.96], P = .040) were independently associated with an increased transplant-free survival, while the presence of liver cirrhosis (OR, 2.52 [95% CI, 1.01-6.25], P = .047) was associated with worse outcome. Multidrug-resistant organism (MDRO) colonization or infection did not impact patients' survival.
Conclusions: COVID-SSC and CIP-SSC share the same clinical phenotype, course of the disease, and risk factors for its development. UDCA may be a promising therapeutic option in SSC, though future prospective trials are needed to confirm our findings.
Competing Interests: Potential conflicts of interest. D. B. has served as a consultant for Bayer Healthcare, Boston Scientific, and Shionogi, and has given lectures for the Falk Foundation. K. H. has received an unrestricted research grant from Grifols; speaker’s fees from Grifols, CSL Behring, AbbVie, and Chiesi; and travel support from AbbVie. K. H. has also received support for the present manuscript from the START program within the medical faculty at Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule Aachen University, the ALTA Award from Grifols, and the German Liver Foundation. V. T. M. has received travel support from AbbVie. F. F. has received travel support from AbbVie and Novartis, and speaker’s fees from AbbVie, MSD, Ipsen, and Fresenius. K. H. P. has received payment or honoraria from AbbVie and Gilead and support for attending meetings and/or travel from AbbVie. S. Z. has received speaking and/or consulting fees from AbbVie, Allergan, BioMarin, Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS), Falk, Gilead, Intercept, Janssen, Novo Nordisk, Sobi, Theratechnologies, and Merck/MSD, and payment for expert testimony from Gilead. O. W. has received fees for advisory board membership from Amgen, Bayer, BMS, Celgene, Eisai, Incyte, Ipsen, Merck Serono, MSD, Novartis, Roche, Servier, and Shire; spearker’s fees from AstraZeneca, Bayer, BMS, Eisai, Ipsen, MSD, Novartis, Roche, and Shire; travel support from AbbVie, Bayer, BMS, Gilead, Ipsen, Medac, and Merck Serono; and funding for investigator-initiated trials from Else Kröner-Fresenius-Stiftung, Medac, and Merck Serono. He is also an investigator for Basilea, Incyte, and MSD. F. K. has received payment or honoraria from Eisai, Sirtex, and Ipsen, and support for attending meetings and/or travel from Janssen and Pfizer. M. M. M. has received speaker’s fees from AbbVie; travel support from AbbVie, Gilead, and Intercept; research grant from Gilead; and consulting fees and participation on a data and safety monitoring board or advisory board from Sobi. All other authors report no potential conflicts. All authors have submitted the ICMJE Form for Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest. Conflicts that the editors consider relevant to the content of the manuscript have been disclosed.
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