Analysis of upper gastrointestinal endoscopy results during the COVID-19 pandemic and the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on gastric histopathology: A single-center experience

INTRODUCTION: This study was undertaken to compare and analyze changes in the gastroscopy biopsies in infected and non-infected patients performed during the COVID-19 outbreak.
METHODS: A total of 2405 patients who underwent biopsy were obtained from the pathology department. Demographic and pathological characteristics were collected retrospectively from medical records and analyzed, including the patients’ age, gender, inflammation, atrophy, intestinal metaplasia, activity, Helicobacter pylori, lymphoid aggregate, and COVID-19 status.
RESULTS: A total of 2405 patients were obtained from the pathology department. In the review of these patients, 294 patients were positive for COVID-19 in the past. COVID-19 was positive in 12.4% of patients with inflammation in the gastric mucosa and 14.9% of those with H. pylori (p<0.001 and p=0.029, respectively). There was no significant relationship between other variables and COVID-19 positivity. Lymphoid aggregate positivity was statistically significant (p=0.001). While the rate of positive lymphoid aggregates in the first 6 months was 60.6%, this rate was 39.4% in the following period. The reliability of the timing of endoscopy after COVID-19 in predicting lymphoid aggregate with the ROC curve is assessed in Table 3, and the cutoff value was 119.5 days (AUC: 0.624, sensitivity and specificity 56.8%, p<0.001).
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: The acute and chronic effects of the disease on the gastrointestinal system are still controversial. It is not yet known what the future consequences of the increase in lymphoid aggregates, which we found in our study, will be.