Coronavirus Disease-19 as a New Etiology of Acute Pancreatitis: a Report of Two Cases and Literature Review

Abstract

Acute pancreatitis (AP) is a life-threatening condition for which a wide range of etiological factors are considered. While gallstones and alcohol consumption are the leading causative agents, infectious microorganisms are assumed to be involved in some AP cases. During the ongoing coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, a coincidence of mild AP and COVID-19 has been reported, and hereby, we present the first cases of COVID-19/AP comorbidity from Iran.

We present two cases of AP that occurred in patients with COVID-19 without any other risk factors with different outcomes. One of them had a mild AP and recovered, while the other patient suffered from a severe AP and expired. Also, it was noted that the first patient did not have any COVID-19 symptoms but abdominal pain, which probably was related to AP.

 Based on this report, COVID-19 can be considered in the AP cases that do not have an underlying risk factor, regardless of the severity of AP and the presence of COVID-19 symptoms.