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Meta-Analysis
. 2020 Nov:105:74-83.
doi: 10.1016/j.humpath.2020.07.023. Epub 2020 Aug 2.

A review of the main histopathological findings in coronavirus disease 2019

Walter O Vasquez-Bonilla  1 , Roberto Orozco  2 , Víctor Argueta  2 , Manuel Sierra  3 , Lysien I Zambrano  4 , Fausto Muñoz-Lara  5 , Dennis Salomón López-Molina  6 , Kovy Arteaga-Livias  7 , Zachary Grimes  8 , Clare Bryce  8 , Alberto Paniz-Mondolfi  9 , Alfonso J Rodríguez-Morales  10
Affiliations
Meta-Analysis

A review of the main histopathological findings in coronavirus disease 2019

Walter O Vasquez-Bonilla et al. Hum Pathol. 2020 Nov.

Abstract

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) virus, has been declared by the World Health Organization as an emerging public health problem of global importance and classified as a pandemic. SARS-CoV-2 infection can result in diverse, multiorgan pathology, the most significant being in the lungs (diffuse alveolar damage in its different phases, microthrombi, bronchopneumonia, necrotizing bronchiolitis, viral pneumonia), heart (lymphocytic myocarditis), kidney (acute tubular injury), central nervous system (microthrombi, ischemic necrosis, acute hemorrhagic infarction, congestion, and vascular edema), lymph nodes (hemophagocytosis and histiocytosis), bone marrow (hemophagocytosis), and vasculature (deep vein thrombosis). An understanding of the spectrum and frequency of histologic findings in COVID-19 is essential for gaining a better understanding of disease pathophysiology and its ongoing impact on public health. To this end, we conducted a systematic meta-analysis of histopathologic observations to date and review the reported findings.

Keywords: Autopsy; COVID-19; Histopathology; Pathology; SARS-CoV-2.

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Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Lung: diffuse alveolar damage with hyaline membranes (arrows) (H&E, ×10). Photos from Grimes, Bryce, and Paniz-Mondolfi. H&E, heamtoxylin and eosin.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Bone marrow: hemophagocytosis—macrophages with ingested red cells (H&E, ×60). Photos from Grimes, Bryce, and Paniz-Mondolfi. H&E, heamtoxylin and eosin. (For interpretation of the references to color in this figure legend, the reader is referred to the Web version of this article.)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Pulmonary thromboembolus. Photos from Grimes, Bryce, and Paniz-Mondolfi.
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Lung: pulmonary thromboembolus (H&E, ×10). Photos from Grimes, Bryce, and Paniz-Mondolfi. H&E, heamtoxylin and eosin.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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