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Review
. 2020 May;73(5):239-242.
doi: 10.1136/jclinpath-2020-206522. Epub 2020 Mar 20.

Autopsy in suspected COVID-19 cases

Brian Hanley  1 , Sebastian B Lucas  2 , Esther Youd  3 , Benjamin Swift  4 , Michael Osborn  5
Affiliations
Review

Autopsy in suspected COVID-19 cases

Brian Hanley et al. J Clin Pathol. 2020 May.

Abstract

The severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-coronavirus-2 (CoV-2) outbreak in Wuhan, China has now spread to many countries across the world including the UK with an increasing death toll. This will inevitably lead to an increase in the number of suspected coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)-related deaths at autopsy. The Royal College of Pathologists has responded to this concern with the release of a briefing on autopsy practice relating to COVID-19. The following article is a summary and interpretation of these guidelines. It includes a description of hazard group 3 organisms, the category to which SARS-CoV-2 has been assigned, a brief description of what is currently known about the pathological and autopsy findings in COVID-19, a summary of the recommendations for conducting autopsies in suspected COVID-19 cases and the techniques for making the diagnosis at autopsy. It concludes by considering the clinicopathological correlation and notification of such cases.

Keywords: autopsy pathology; diagnosis; lung; safety; virus.

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Conflict of interest statement

Competing interests: None declared.

Comment in

  • Covid-19 current advice for pathologists.
    Firth J. Firth J. Pathologica. 2020 Jun;112(2):55-56. doi: 10.32074/1591-951X-12-20. Epub 2020 Mar 17. Pathologica. 2020. PMID: 32292181 Free PMC article. No abstract available.
  • Editorial - COVID-19, more than a viral pneumonia.
    Perrella A, Trama U, Bernardi FF, Russo G, Monastra L, Fragranza F, Orlando V, Coscioni E. Perrella A, et al. Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci. 2020 May;24(9):5183-5185. doi: 10.26355/eurrev_202005_21216. Eur Rev Med Pharmacol Sci. 2020. PMID: 32432786 No abstract available.

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