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Review
. 2021 Mar;27(3):103-107.
doi: 10.1016/j.mpdhp.2020.11.008. Epub 2020 Dec 5.

COVID-19 autopsies: conclusions from international studies

Vivek Sekhawat  1   2   3 , Anna Green  1   2   3 , Ula Mahadeva  1   2   3
Affiliations
Review

COVID-19 autopsies: conclusions from international studies

Vivek Sekhawat et al. Diagn Histopathol (Oxf). 2021 Mar.

Abstract

The rapid pace at which COVID-19 studies are being published is surpassed only by the spread of the virus and the destruction wreaked by the pandemic globally. Therefore, it is likely that, even in the few months prior to this article reaching print, the COVID-19 literature would have moved on. The authors of this article work at a centre for COVID autopsies in London, and the aim of the article is, using their first-hand experience of COVID-19 autopsies, to distil what in their judgement are the most valid and important findings of internationally published COVID-19 autopsy studies. The intention is to provide an illustrated summary of the pathology of the organ systems most often affected by COVID-19, which will be particularly useful to trainee histopathologists and to busy consultant surgical histopathologists who may not have encountered COVID-19 first hand. For the reader who wishes to probe further the question of pathogenesis, a few pertinent references are provided.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS coronavirus 2; SARS-CoV-2; autopsy; histology; histopathology; macroscopy; microscopy; pathology; post-mortem.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
(a) Thrombosis of external iliac vein (arrowhead). (b) Pulmonary arterial thrombo-emboli (arrowhead), associated with haemorrhagic infarction of the lung lobe.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Thrombus in intramyocardial arteriole (arrowhead), with surrounding sub-acute microinfarct.
Figure 3
Figure 3
(a) Diffuse alveolar damage - congestion/proliferation phases, with lymphocytic infiltration of alveolar septa. (b) Diffuse alveolar damage – organising phase with paradoxical hyaline membranes (arrowhead). (c) Typical macroscopic appearance of COVID lung.
Figure 4
Figure 4
Kupffer cell activation and haemophagocytosis (arrowhead) (PGM1 immunohistochemistry).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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