Feasibility of postmortem examination in the era of COVID-19 pandemic: the experience of a Northeast Italy University Hospital

With the continuous spreading of SARS-CoV-2 and increasing number of deaths worldwide, the need and appropriateness for autopsy in patients with COVID-19 became a matter of discussion. In fact, in the COVID-19 era protection of healthcare workers is a priority besides patient management. No evidence...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Virchows Archiv : an international journal of pathology 2020-09, Vol.477 (3), p.341-347
Main Authors: Basso, Cristina, Calabrese, Fiorella, Sbaraglia, Marta, Del Vecchio, Claudia, Carretta, Giovanni, Saieva, Annamaria, Donato, Daniele, Flor, Luciano, Crisanti, Andrea, Dei Tos, Angelo Paolo
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Autopsies
Autopsy
Autopsy - instrumentation
Autopsy - methods
Betacoronavirus
Biosafety
Coronavirus Infections - prevention & control
Coronavirus Infections - transmission
Coronaviruses
COVID-19
Disease transmission
Feasibility Studies
Health risks
Hospitals, University
Humans
Italy
Medical personnel
Medicine
Medicine & Public Health
Original
Original Article
Pandemics
Pandemics - prevention & control
Pathogenesis
Pathology
Pneumonia, Viral - prevention & control
Pneumonia, Viral - transmission
Risk reduction
SARS-CoV-2
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Technicians
Viral diseases
Workflow
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Summary:With the continuous spreading of SARS-CoV-2 and increasing number of deaths worldwide, the need and appropriateness for autopsy in patients with COVID-19 became a matter of discussion. In fact, in the COVID-19 era protection of healthcare workers is a priority besides patient management. No evidence is currently available about the real risk related to the procedure as well as to the subsequent management of the samples. We herein describe the procedure that has been used to perform the first series of postmortem examinations in the COVID center of the Padua University Hospital, Padua, Italy, after the implementation of an ad hoc operating procedure, to minimize the risk of infection for pathologists and technicians. Provided that the procedure is performed in an adequate environment respecting strict biosafety rules, our data indicate that complete postmortem examination appears to be safe and will be highly informative providing useful insights into the complex disease pathogenesis.
ISSN:0945-6317
1432-2307
DOI:10.1007/s00428-020-02861-1