Open AccessAutopsy dissection techniques and investigations in deaths due to COVID-19 triggered fungal infections - A diagnostic review
Author(s) -
Himanshi Narang,
Amit Patil
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
indian journal of forensic and community medicine
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2394-6776
pISSN - 2394-6768
DOI - 10.18231/j.ijfcm.2021.043
Subject(s) - mucormycosis , autopsy , aspergillosis , medicine , paranasal sinuses , disease , zygomycosis , pandemic , pathology , dissection (medical) , covid-19 , intensive care medicine , infectious disease (medical specialty) , immunology , dermatology , surgery , amphotericin b , antifungal
The COVID-19 pandemic, which originated from Wuhan, China, has rapidly spread worldwide, including India. As India grappled with the second wave, COVID-triggered fungal infection has suddenly risen tremendously, raising a sense of panic in the country. The fungal infection in COVID-19 includes Mucormycosis and Aspergillosis, as common fungal infections primarily affecting rhino-orbital structures. Many research papers have published postmortem findings in autopsies conducted on COVID-19 decedents, thereby helping to understand this contagious disease's pathogenesis. But, with the arrival of COVID-triggered fungal infection, which is a crucial invasive disease responsible for fatality, very few research papers have commented on the postmortem findings of invasive fungal infections affecting the rhino-orbital and craniocerebral structures in COVID-19 deaths. Therefore, the role of invasive fungal infection due to COVID-19 illness must be established in the causation of deaths in COVID-19 patients. This review research deals with autopsy dissection techniques and possible postmortem findings of invasive fungal infections involving the nasal and paranasal sinuses and orbital structures in COVID-19 deaths. The findings of fungal infection affecting nasal and paranasal systems may not differ in live patients and in a deceased; however, it is essential that correct interpretation of the postmortem findings aided by pre-or post-autopsy investigations is necessary to establish the role of covid triggered fungal infection in such deaths.