Protocol for postmortem bedside endoscopic procedure to sample human respiratory and olfactory cleft mucosa, olfactory bulbs, and frontal lobe

Marnick Clijsters; Mona Khan; Wout Backaert; Mark Jorissen; Kato Speleman; Pauline Van Bulck; Wouter Van Den Bogaert; Christophe Vandenbriele; Peter Mombaerts; Laura Van Gerven

doi:10.1016/j.xpro.2023.102831

Protocol for postmortem bedside endoscopic procedure to sample human respiratory and olfactory cleft mucosa, olfactory bulbs, and frontal lobe

STAR Protoc. 2024 Mar 15;5(1):102831. doi: 10.1016/j.xpro.2023.102831. Epub 2024 Jan 24.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Department of Neurosciences, Experimental Otorhinolaryngology, Rhinology Research, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
² Max Planck Research Unit for Neurogenetics, 60438 Frankfurt, Germany.
³ Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospitals Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
⁴ Department of Neurosciences, Experimental Otorhinolaryngology, Rhinology Research, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospitals Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
⁵ Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, AZ Sint-Jan Brugge-Oostende AV, 8000 Bruges, Belgium.
⁶ Department of Imaging & Pathology, Forensic Biomedical Sciences, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; Department of Forensic Medicine, University Hospitals Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
⁷ Department of Cardiovascular Sciences, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; Department of Cardiovascular Diseases, University Hospitals Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium.
⁸ Department of Neurosciences, Experimental Otorhinolaryngology, Rhinology Research, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Head and Neck Surgery, University Hospitals Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium; Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Transplantation, Allergy and Clinical Immunology Research Unit, KU Leuven, 3000 Leuven, Belgium. Electronic address: laura.vangerven@uzleuven.be.

Abstract

We present a protocol for the rapid postmortem bedside procurement of selected tissue samples using an endoscopic endonasal surgical technique that we adapted from skull base surgery. We describe steps for the postmortem collection of blood, cerebrospinal fluid, a nasopharyngeal swab, and tissue samples; the clean-up procedure; and the initial processing and storage of the samples. This protocol was validated with tissue samples procured postmortem from COVID-19 patients and can be applied in another emerging infectious disease. For complete details on the use and execution of this protocol, please refer to Khan et al. (2021)¹ and Khan et al. (2022).².

Keywords: Clinical Protocol; Neuroscience.

MeSH terms

Endoscopy / methods
Frontal Lobe / surgery
Humans
Olfactory Mucosa / surgery
Plastic Surgery Procedures*
Skull Base / surgery