COVID-19: Brief check through the pathologist's eye (autopsy archive)

Pathol Res Pract. 2020 Nov;216(11):153195. doi: 10.1016/j.prp.2020.153195. Epub 2020 Aug 28.

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many deaths occurred especially among the old patients with cardiovascular comorbidities. Many questions have been asked and few simple answers have been given. The autopsy data are few and the aspects often observed are pulmonary diffuse alveolar damage (DAD), myocarditis, acute myocardial infarction (AMI), and disseminated intravascular coagulation (DIC); these aspects are not only in COVID-19 but also in other viral infections and in sepsis. It should be considered that coronavirus with its pathological organ changes have already been described in the years preceding the pandemic.

Keywords: COVID 2019; Cardiovascular system; CoV-19; Pulmonary pathology; SARS.Cov-19.

Publication types

  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Autopsy / methods
  • Betacoronavirus / pathogenicity*
  • COVID-19
  • Coronavirus Infections / diagnosis
  • Coronavirus Infections / pathology*
  • Coronavirus Infections / virology
  • Humans
  • Lung / pathology*
  • Lung / virology
  • Myocarditis / pathology
  • Pandemics
  • Pathologists*
  • Pneumonia, Viral / diagnosis
  • Pneumonia, Viral / pathology*
  • Pneumonia, Viral / virology
  • SARS-CoV-2