The thin red line: ileal angiodysplasia versus SARS-CoV-2-related haemorrhagic enteritis

Given her clinical condition, once restored the haemodynamic stability, 48 hours after the gastrografin administration, the patient underwent an urgent explorative laparotomy with extensive lysis of intraperitoneal adhesions and resection of a double adhesion band causing intestinal obstruction in two separate portions of the small bowel. Since our institution requires to perform a nasopharyngeal swab for SARS-CoV-2 detection before any admission into the OR, the patient was tested negative for the virus. [...]a new angio-CT demonstrated a picture of diffused ileitis (figure 4). [...]a faecal swab was performed and it tested positive for the presence of the virus. [...]once the initial source of bleeding was removed the patient experienced further gastrointestinal bleeding episodes. [...]the positivity of the faecal swab for SARS-CoV-2 confirmed the presence of the virus in the gastrointestinal tract. [...]raising earlier the suspicion of SARS-CoV-2-related enteritis could have prompted the prosecution of an effective conservative treatment, possibly avoiding unnecessary more invasive procedures.