TY - JOUR
T1 - Postmortem Findings in Italian Patients With COVID-19
T2 - A Descriptive Full Autopsy Study of Cases With and Without Comorbidities
AU - Falasca, Laura
AU - Nardacci, Roberta
AU - Colombo, Daniele
AU - Lalle, Eleonora
AU - Di Caro, Antonino
AU - Nicastri, Emanuele
AU - Antinori, Andrea
AU - Petrosillo, Nicola
AU - Marchioni, Luisa
AU - Biava, Gianluigi
AU - D'Offizi, Gianpiero
AU - Palmieri, Fabrizio
AU - Goletti, Delia
AU - Zumla, Alimuddin
AU - Ippolito, Giuseppe
AU - Piacentini, Mauro
AU - Del Nonno, Franca
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2020. Published by Oxford University Press for the Infectious Diseases Society of America. All rights reserved. For permissions, e-mail: journals.permissions@oup.com.
Copyright:
This record is sourced from MEDLINE/PubMed, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine
PY - 2020/11/9
Y1 - 2020/11/9
N2 - BACKGROUND: Descriptions of the pathological features of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) caused by the novel zoonotic pathogen severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) emanate from tissue biopsies, case reports, and small postmortem studies restricted to the lung and specific organs. Whole-body autopsy studies of COVID-19 patients have been sparse. METHODS: To further define the pathology caused by SARS-CoV-2 across all body organs, we performed autopsies on 22 patients with COVID-19 (18 with comorbidities and 4 without comorbidities) who died at the National Institute for Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani-IRCCS Hospital, Rome, Italy. Tissues from the lung, heart, liver, kidney, spleen, and bone marrow (but not the brain) were examined. Only lung tissues were subject to transmission electron microscopy. RESULTS: COVID-19 caused multisystem pathology. Pulmonary and cardiovascular involvement were dominant pathological features. Extrapulmonary manifestations included hepatic, kidney, splenic, and bone marrow involvement, and microvascular injury and thrombosis were also detected. These findings were similar in patients with or without preexisting medical comorbidities. CONCLUSIONS: SARS-CoV-2 infection causes multisystem disease and significant pathology in most organs in patients with and without comorbidities.
AB - BACKGROUND: Descriptions of the pathological features of coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19) caused by the novel zoonotic pathogen severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) emanate from tissue biopsies, case reports, and small postmortem studies restricted to the lung and specific organs. Whole-body autopsy studies of COVID-19 patients have been sparse. METHODS: To further define the pathology caused by SARS-CoV-2 across all body organs, we performed autopsies on 22 patients with COVID-19 (18 with comorbidities and 4 without comorbidities) who died at the National Institute for Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani-IRCCS Hospital, Rome, Italy. Tissues from the lung, heart, liver, kidney, spleen, and bone marrow (but not the brain) were examined. Only lung tissues were subject to transmission electron microscopy. RESULTS: COVID-19 caused multisystem pathology. Pulmonary and cardiovascular involvement were dominant pathological features. Extrapulmonary manifestations included hepatic, kidney, splenic, and bone marrow involvement, and microvascular injury and thrombosis were also detected. These findings were similar in patients with or without preexisting medical comorbidities. CONCLUSIONS: SARS-CoV-2 infection causes multisystem disease and significant pathology in most organs in patients with and without comorbidities.
KW - autopsy
KW - comorbidities
KW - COVID-19
KW - pathology
KW - SARS-CoV-2
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U2 - 10.1093/infdis/jiaa578
DO - 10.1093/infdis/jiaa578
M3 - Article
C2 - 32914853
AN - SCOPUS:85095978745
VL - 222
SP - 1807
EP - 1815
JO - Journal of Infectious Diseases
JF - Journal of Infectious Diseases
SN - 0022-1899
IS - 11
ER -