Zhang Xinhai R, Agarwal Indu, Jing Jian, Cheng Lin, Scaria Gladson, Latef Mamoor, Gattuso Paolo
Department of Pathology, Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL 60612, USA.
Department of Pathology, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, CO 80045, USA.
Hum Pathol Rep. 2022 Mar;27:300595. doi: 10.1016/j.hpr.2022.300595. Epub 2022 Feb 3.
Two years since the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is time to discuss the long-term complications post virus infection. We are reporting three autopsy cases from patients who had COVID-19 one to six months before death. All three patients were SARS-CoV-2 negative at admission but expired shortly. At autopsy, the first patient showed subacute diffuse myocardial ischemic injury with microthrombi in pericardial small vessels, whereas the second patient showed catastrophic acute and subacute pulmonary infarctions with hemothorax leading to respiratory failure. The third patient showed subacute severe cerebral infarcts in the left middle cerebral artery region. Our findings suggest the hypercoagulopathy and subsequent vital organ damage may persist beyond the active phase of SARS-CoV-2 infection. It is essential to continue monitoring the COVID-19 patients after recovery, so as to identify those with vital organ injury in a timely manner and to take necessary steps to prevent severe consequences of COVID-19 complications.
自新冠疫情出现两年以来,是时候讨论病毒感染后的长期并发症了。我们报告了三例尸检病例,这些患者在死亡前一至六个月感染了新冠病毒。所有三名患者入院时新型冠状病毒检测均为阴性,但很快就去世了。尸检时,第一名患者表现为亚急性弥漫性心肌缺血性损伤,心包小血管中有微血栓形成,而第二名患者表现为灾难性的急性和亚急性肺梗死伴血胸,导致呼吸衰竭。第三名患者在左侧大脑中动脉区域出现亚急性严重脑梗死。我们的研究结果表明,高凝状态及随后的重要器官损伤可能在新冠病毒感染的活跃期之后仍然存在。在康复后继续对新冠患者进行监测至关重要,以便及时识别出有重要器官损伤的患者,并采取必要措施预防新冠并发症的严重后果。