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Review
. 2020 Nov:47:101769.
doi: 10.1016/j.legalmed.2020.101769. Epub 2020 Jul 26.

Autopsies of COVID-19 deceased? Absolutely!

Jan-Peter Sperhake  1
Affiliations
Review

Autopsies of COVID-19 deceased? Absolutely!

Jan-Peter Sperhake. Leg Med (Tokyo). 2020 Nov.

Abstract

Autopsies are an essential tool for understanding new diseases. Against this background, it is incomprehensible why there is great reluctance worldwide to perform autopsies on COVID-19 deceased patients. The article provides an overview of the status of the autopsy series published worldwide and shows the path taken by the city of Hamburg in Germany, where autopsies are ordered by the health authorities in the interests of disease control. The risk of infection posed by SARS-CoV-2-positive deceased persons may be overestimated. The scientific benefit that can be drawn from experience with autopsies and further examination of tissue samples is immeasurable.

Keywords: Autopsy; COVID-19; Pandemic; Post mortem; SARS-CoV-2.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Pulmonary embolism in a 91-year-old man.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Deep vein thrombosis (same patient as Fig. 1).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Typical patchy aspect of the lung (cut surface), in a 56-year-old woman.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Diffuse alveolar damage with abundant fibroblasts and pneumocytes in the alveoli, hyaline membranes (black arrows), squamous metaplasia (green arrows) and microthrombosis (red arrows) (H&E, ×80). (For interpretation of the references to colour in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the web version of this article.)
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Hyaline membranes (H&E, ×100).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

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