Open AccessPostmortem CT in decedents with SARS-CoV-2 infection. A single institution experience
Author(s) -
Mariam Thomas,
Fereidoun Abtin,
Antoinette R. Roth,
Catherine Yim,
Anokh Pahwa,
Jeremy S Paige,
Odey Ukpo
Publication year - 2022
Publication title -
forensic sciences research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.729
H-Index - 10
eISSN - 2096-1790
pISSN - 2471-1411
DOI - 10.1080/20961790.2021.1977479
Subject(s) - medicine , covid-19 , autopsy , disease , pandemic , cause of death , retrospective cohort study , young adult , pathology , infectious disease (medical specialty)
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by SARS-CoV-2 produced a global pandemic with significant mortality. As autopsies are not routinely performed on all decedents with SARS-CoV-2 infection, postmortem CT (PMCT) may be valuable to provide additional information on the cause of death and risk factors known to be associated with an increased mortality in COVID-19. The purpose of this manuscript is to review the PMCT findings in a series of 42 decedents with SARS-CoV-2 infection from our institution. Retrospective analysis of 42 decedents who had a positive postmortem nasopharyngeal swab for SARS-CoV-2 and had a PMCT were included in this study. Images were reviewed for pulmonary findings seen in COVID-19 and other organ involvement. Of the 42 decedents, although the majority had imaging findings in the lungs that would be consistent with COVID-19 and acute respiratory distress syndrome, in 14% of the decedents the SARS-CoV-2 infection was likely coincidental and the PMCT findings suggested that they died from other pathology. Over half of the decedents that died from COVID-19 had PMCT findings of vascular disease. PMCT is useful to identify pulmonary and extra pulmonary findings in decedents with SARS-CoV-2 infection that can provide additional information, which may be useful for the forensic pathologist to help determine the underlying cause of death. Supplemental data for this article are available online at.