Liver drug damage: possibilities of polyionic succinate-methioninic complex during the pandemic of new coronavirus infection (COVID-19)

Abstract

Medicinal liver damage is an important problem not only in the framework of hepatology and gastroenterology, but also for internal medicine in  general, which is due to the  difficulties of  correct and timely diagnosis of  this pathology. In  the  first part of the review, the main mechanisms of liver tissue damage and clinical and formological manifestations of drug-induced liver damage are considered.The pandemic of the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19), spread by the SARS-CoV-2 virus, has become a challenge to health systems around the world. The global clinical experience gained over the past year in the management of patients with a new coronavirus infection makes it possible to highlight a number of relevant clinical aspects, one of which is drug-induced liver damage associated with the treatment of COVID-19. In the second part of the review, the possible mechanisms of influence of COVID-19 on the hepatobiliary system are considered, which include viral cytotoxicity, a secondary effect of immune dysregulation; hypoxia as a result of respiratory failure and subsequent ischemic liver damage; reactivation of already existing liver pathology and drug damage to the liver. It has been established that a large number of drugs used to treat COVID-19 - antiviral agents, antibacterials, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, steroids and others - have hepatoxic effects and can cause liver damage. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, for patients with a new coronavirus infection and drug-induced liver damage, a rational, pathogenetically justified choice of a hepatoprotective drug is of particular importance. In the final part of the review, the possibilities of the polyionic succinate-methionine complex in the treatment of drug-induced liver damage are considered and a clinical example of the drug application in a patient with drug-induced liver damage during treatment with COVID-19 is given.