Cardiovascular Pathology Unit, Padua University Hospital, Padua, Italy.
Department of Cardiac Thoracic and Vascular Sciences and Public Health, University of Padua, Padua, Italy.
Virchows Arch. 2020 Sep;477(3):341-347. doi: 10.1007/s00428-020-02861-1. Epub 2020 Jun 9.
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.
随着 SARS-CoV-2 的不断传播和全球死亡人数的增加，对 COVID-19 患者进行尸检的必要性和适当性成为讨论的焦点。事实上，在 COVID-19 时代，除了患者管理之外，保护医护人员是当务之急。目前尚无关于该程序以及随后对样本进行管理的实际风险的证据。本文描述了在意大利帕多瓦大学医院 COVID 中心实施专门操作程序后，用于进行第一批尸检的程序，以尽量降低病理学家和技术人员感染的风险。只要在适当的环境中按照严格的生物安全规则进行操作，我们的数据表明，完整的尸检似乎是安全的，并且将具有高度信息性，为复杂的疾病发病机制提供有用的见解。
